Relative path when opening a file in Chrome via PowerShell

Question

I'm on Windows 10, and I'm trying to open a file with Chrome, however, PS always ends up sending it the relative path.

I'm running commands inside a directory called phy, and here is it's structure (relevant parts):

.
├── defaults.json
└── docs
    ├── 11-01-physics-rotation-and-revolution.html
    └── 11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html

I tried each of the following commands in several ways.

without Chrome on my PATH
with Chrome on my PATH after reboot (specifically, the folder C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application is on my user PATH)
using start chrome instead of chrome
with \ instead of /

PS> chrome ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html
PS> chrome ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html
PS> chrome docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html
PS> chrome Resolve-Path ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html
PS> chrome Convert-Path ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html
PS> Resolve-Path ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html | chrome
PS> Convert-Path ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html | chrome

After executing, the address bar of Chrome has either ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html (not the expanded version, it literally gets the . character), Resolve-Path, Convert-Path, or it's blank and I get the New Tab page.

The following commands work as expected:

PS> chrome
PS> chrome google.com
PS> chrome D:\username\Documents\edu\College\attempt-2\Exams\JEE\Notes\self\phy\docs\11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html  # this is the full path to the aforementioned phys directory

How do I get it to convert a relative path to an absolute one? Coming from Ubuntu, bash does this pretty much automatically.

Your call to `Convert-Path` should work correctly and is the way to resolve relative paths, it should work fine as long as you wrap it in `(...)`: `chrome.exe (Convert-Path ...)` — Santiago Squarzon, Mar 29 '22 at 14:56
Damn @SantiagoSquarzon, that works. Thank you! Do you want to rewrite that as an answer (so we can mark it for any one searching this in the future)? — eccentricOrange, Mar 29 '22 at 14:58
BTW @SantiagoSquarzon, is there a reason for you to specify `.exe` in your command? Or is it just what you're used-to? — eccentricOrange, Mar 29 '22 at 15:13
No, no reason at all, I thought I saw `.exe` on your question — Santiago Squarzon, Mar 29 '22 at 15:14

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 29 '22 at 14:58

0

To convert a relative path to absolute, I use a small helper function:

function ConvertTo-AbsolutePath ([string]$Path) {
    if ($Path.StartsWith("~")) { 
        $Path = $Path.Substring(1)
        $current = $HOME
    }
    else { $current = $pwd.ProviderPath }
    if (-not ([System.IO.Path]::IsPathRooted($Path)) -or $Path -match '^\\[^\\]+') {
        return [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath([System.IO.Path]::Combine($current, $Path))
    }

    $Path
}

Usage:

$absPath = ConvertTo-AbsolutePath './docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html'

Then use that as parameter to start chrome

answered Mar 29 '22 at 14:58

Theo

57,719
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How is this different from `Convert-Path` or `Resolve-Path`? – eccentricOrange Mar 29 '22 at 15:00
@eccentricOrange I wrote that function following the discussion [here](https://stackoverflow.com/q/70254096/9898643) – Theo Mar 29 '22 at 15:04
Theo, you can use `$PSCmdlet.GetUnresolvedProviderPathFromPSPath($Path)` as long as the function has `cmdletbinding` enabled – Santiago Squarzon Mar 29 '22 at 15:04

Santiago Squarzon · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-29T16:41:18.413

0

Your call to Convert-Path should work properly and is the best way to handle relative paths, the only problem in this case is that you need to use the Grouping operator (..) so that the expression is evaluated first before we pass it to chrome:

chrome (Convert-Path ./docs/11-09-physics-mechanical-properties-of-materials.html)

edited Mar 29 '22 at 16:41

answered Mar 29 '22 at 15:35

Santiago Squarzon

41,465
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Relative path when opening a file in Chrome via PowerShell

2 Answers2