c++: How to obtain sub-string of file path, without file name

Question

I have a a file path as std::string

For example: C:\\folder1\\folder2\\file.dll

I want to get the folder path

For example: C:\folder1\folder2\.

I tried str=path.substr(0,path.find_last_of("\\/"))

But, this ommits the last \\ also.

Instead of handling paths and their handling yourself, I recommend you use either [`std::filesystem::path`](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/filesystem/path) (if your compiler is new enough to have C++17, or otherwise [Boost filesystem `path`](https://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_68_0/libs/filesystem/doc/reference.html#class-path) otherwise). It will make all your path handling *so* much simpler. — Some programmer dude, Oct 29 '18 at 15:37

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 29 '18 at 15:36

1

If you have access to boost, use:

boost::filesystem::path(str).root_path();

and with C++17:

std::filesystem::path(str).root_path();

answered Oct 29 '18 at 15:36

Matthieu Brucher

zdf · Answer 2 · 2018-10-29T17:03:01.733

1

std::filesystem::path p{ "c:\\temp\\test.txt" };
std::cout << "Parent: " << p.parent_path() << std::endl; // will output c:\temp

If you are using VS 2017, filesystem is available under experimental namespace:
```
std::experimental::filesystem::path p{ "c:\\temp\\test.txt" };
```
Under Windows you may also combine _splitpath and _makepath to build the parent path.

edited Oct 29 '18 at 17:03

answered Oct 29 '18 at 16:39

zdf

2 Answers2