Question

Question

How do you extract the base path from pathname in C?

Are there any functions built into the C language or the C-Runtime Library to extract the base path from a pathname in C?

I’m asking basically the opposite of this question.

NOTE: I prefer a cross-platform solution, but I’m working in Windows so if there is a Windows API call that does this, I’d still like to know.

Examples

Input              | Output
---------------------------------
C:\path\to\file   -> C:\path\to\
C:\path\to\file.c -> C:\path\to\
C:\file           -> C:\
.\file            -> .\
.\                -> .\
\                 -> \

References

• Extract file name from full path in C using MSVS2005

Answer 1

On Windows there is _splitpath.

Example

#include <Windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>

// Use your own error codes here
#define SUCCESS                     0L
#define FAILURE_NULL_ARGUMENT       1L
#define FAILURE_API_CALL            2L
#define FAILURE_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER 3L

DWORD GetBasePathFromPathName( LPCTSTR szPathName,
                               LPTSTR  szBasePath,
                               DWORD   dwBasePathSize )
{
  TCHAR   szDrive[_MAX_DRIVE] = { 0 };
  TCHAR   szDir[_MAX_DIR]     = { 0 };
  TCHAR   szFname[_MAX_FNAME] = { 0 };
  TCHAR   szExt[_MAX_EXT]     = { 0 };
  size_t  PathLength;
  DWORD   dwReturnCode;

  // Parameter validation
  if( szPathName == NULL || szBasePath == NULL )
  {
    return FAILURE_NULL_ARGUMENT;
  }

  // Split the path into it's components
  dwReturnCode = _tsplitpath_s( szPathName, szDrive, _MAX_DRIVE, szDir, _MAX_DIR, szFname, _MAX_FNAME, szExt, _MAX_EXT );
  if( dwReturnCode != 0 )
  {
    _ftprintf( stderr, TEXT("Error splitting path. _tsplitpath_s returned %d.\n"), dwReturnCode );
    return FAILURE_API_CALL;
  }

  // Check that the provided buffer is large enough to store the results and a terminal null character
  PathLength = _tcslen( szDrive ) + _tcslen( szDir );
  if( ( PathLength + sizeof( TCHAR ) ) > dwBasePathSize )
  {
    _ftprintf( stderr, TEXT("Insufficient buffer. Required %d. Provided: %d\n"), PathLength, dwBasePathSize );
    return FAILURE_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER;
  }

  // Copy the szDrive and szDir into the provide buffer to form the basepath
  if( ( dwReturnCode = _tcscpy_s( szBasePath, dwBasePathSize, szDrive ) ) != 0 )
  {
    _ftprintf( stderr, TEXT("Error copying string. _tcscpy_s returned %d\n"), dwReturnCode );
    return FAILURE_API_CALL;
  }
  if( ( dwReturnCode = _tcscat_s( szBasePath, dwBasePathSize, szDir ) ) != 0 )
  {
    _ftprintf( stderr, TEXT("Error copying string. _tcscat_s returned %d\n"), dwReturnCode );
    return FAILURE_API_CALL;
  }
  return SUCCESS;
}