Question

What methods of the boost::filesystem library can help me to get a path relative to another path?

I have a path /home/user1/Downloads/Books and a path /home/user1/. Now I want to get a path Downloads/Books.

Answer 1

Taken from a link found by following the ticket Nicol linked to:

template < >
    path& path::append< typename path::iterator >( typename path::iterator begin, typename path::iterator end, const codecvt_type& cvt)
    { 
        for( ; begin != end ; ++begin )
            *this /= *begin;
        return *this;
    }
    // Return path when appended to a_From will resolve to same as a_To
    boost::filesystem::path make_relative( boost::filesystem::path a_From, boost::filesystem::path a_To )
    {
        a_From = boost::filesystem::absolute( a_From ); a_To = boost::filesystem::absolute( a_To );
        boost::filesystem::path ret;
        boost::filesystem::path::const_iterator itrFrom( a_From.begin() ), itrTo( a_To.begin() );
        // Find common base
        for( boost::filesystem::path::const_iterator toEnd( a_To.end() ), fromEnd( a_From.end() ) ; itrFrom != fromEnd && itrTo != toEnd && *itrFrom == *itrTo; ++itrFrom, ++itrTo );
        // Navigate backwards in directory to reach previously found base
        for( boost::filesystem::path::const_iterator fromEnd( a_From.end() ); itrFrom != fromEnd; ++itrFrom )
        {
            if( (*itrFrom) != "." )
                ret /= "..";
        }
        // Now navigate down the directory branch
        ret.append( itrTo, a_To.end() );
        return ret;
    }

Stick that in a header file and it should do what you want.

Sample call:

boost::filesystem::path a("foo/bar"), b("foo/test/korv.txt");
std::cout << make_relative( a, b ).string() << std::endl;