Extracting Path from OpenFileDialog path/filename

Question

I'm writing a little utility that starts with selecting a file, and then I need to select a folder. I'd like to default the folder to where the selected file was.

OpenFileDialog.FileName returns the full path & filename - what I want is to obtain just the path portion (sans filename), so I can use that as the initial selected folder.

    private System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog ofd;
    private System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog fbd;
    ...
    if (ofd.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
    {
        string sourceFile = ofd.FileName;
        string sourceFolder = ???;
    }
    ...
    fbd.SelectedPath = sourceFolder; // set initial fbd.ShowDialog() folder
    if (fbd.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
    {
       ...
    }

Are there any .NET methods to do this, or do I need to use regex, split, trim, etc??

Jeff Yates · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-13T14:03:06.233

116

Use the Path class from System.IO. It contains useful calls for manipulating file paths, including GetDirectoryName which does what you want, returning the directory portion of the file path.

Usage is simple.

string directoryPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(filePath);

edited Jan 13 '09 at 14:03

answered Jan 13 '09 at 13:57

Jeff Yates

61,417
20
137
189

5

Thanks - it had to be a simple answer. Note to self: coding after midnight is not recommended. Reading more than just the method prototype also helps, as the VS documentation lists this as public static string GetDirectoryName(string path) & I misinterpreted the parameter. – Kevin Haines Jan 13 '09 at 21:27

score 32 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 15 '13 at 12:23

32

how about this:

string fullPath = ofd.FileName;
string fileName = ofd.SafeFileName;
string path = fullPath.Replace(fileName, "");

answered Feb 15 '13 at 12:23

Jan Macháček

612
7
11

score 18 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 10 '12 at 20:00

18

if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog(this) == DialogResult.OK)
{
    strfilename = openFileDialog1.InitialDirectory + openFileDialog1.FileName;
}

edited Oct 10 '12 at 20:00

Adi Lester

24,731
12
95
110

answered Jul 10 '12 at 17:13

Max

197
1
2

2

Does initial directory change when the user selects a file? If not, then this approach would cause a problem when the user changes directory. Also, I don't think he wanted the `FileName` as part of his `sourceFolder`. – Brian J Jun 19 '13 at 17:22

score 10 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 10 '16 at 09:45

10

You can use FolderBrowserDialog instead of FileDialog and get the path from the OK result.

FolderBrowserDialog browser = new FolderBrowserDialog();
string tempPath ="";

if (browser.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
  tempPath  = browser.SelectedPath; // prints path
}

edited Aug 10 '16 at 09:45

Mafii

7,227
1
35
55

answered Sep 21 '12 at 17:11

Shaahin

1,195
3
14
22

2

So choose the file first and then navigate to it again and choose the folder?? – shinzou Aug 12 '16 at 18:06

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 26 '16 at 14:15

0

Here's the simple way to do It !

string fullPath =openFileDialog1.FileName;
string directory;
directory = fullPath.Substring(0, fullPath.LastIndexOf('\\'));

answered Apr 26 '16 at 14:15

Abdel

1

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 16 '21 at 06:12

0

This was all I needed for the full path to a file

@openFileDialog1.FileName

answered Dec 16 '21 at 06:12

WiiLF

304
3
11

Extracting Path from OpenFileDialog path/filename

6 Answers6

Linked