[javascript] How to get the file name from a full path using JavaScript?

Is there a way that I can get the last value (based on the '\' symbol) from a full path?

Example:

C:\Documents and Settings\img\recycled log.jpg

With this case, I just want to get recycled log.jpg from the full path in JavaScript.

This question is related to javascript

The answer is


var filename = fullPath.replace(/^.*[\\\/]/, '')

This will handle both \ OR / in paths


<html>
    <head>
        <title>Testing File Upload Inputs</title>
        <script type="text/javascript">
            <!--
            function showSrc() {
                document.getElementById("myframe").href = document.getElementById("myfile").value;
                var theexa = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///","");
                alert(document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///",""));
            }
            // -->
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <form method="get" action="#"  >
            <input type="file" 
                   id="myfile" 
                   onChange="javascript:showSrc();" 
                   size="30">
            <br>
            <a href="#" id="myframe"></a>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

What platform does the path come from? Windows paths are different from POSIX paths are different from Mac OS 9 paths are different from RISC OS paths are different...

If it's a web app where the filename can come from different platforms there is no one solution. However a reasonable stab is to use both '\' (Windows) and '/' (Linux/Unix/Mac and also an alternative on Windows) as path separators. Here's a non-RegExp version for extra fun:

var leafname= pathname.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop();

In Node.js, you can use Path's parse module...

var path = require('path');
var file = '/home/user/dir/file.txt';

var filename = path.parse(file).base;
//=> 'file.txt'

The following line of JavaScript code will give you the file name.

var z = location.pathname.substring(location.pathname.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
alert(z);

Not more concise than nickf's answer, but this one directly "extracts" the answer instead of replacing unwanted parts with an empty string:

var filename = /([^\\]+)$/.exec(fullPath)[1];

What platform does the path come from? Windows paths are different from POSIX paths are different from Mac OS 9 paths are different from RISC OS paths are different...

If it's a web app where the filename can come from different platforms there is no one solution. However a reasonable stab is to use both '\' (Windows) and '/' (Linux/Unix/Mac and also an alternative on Windows) as path separators. Here's a non-RegExp version for extra fun:

var leafname= pathname.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop();

Just for the sake of performance, I tested all the answers given here:

var substringTest = function (str) {
    return str.substring(str.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
}

var replaceTest = function (str) {
    return str.replace(/^.*(\\|\/|\:)/, '');
}

var execTest = function (str) {
    return /([^\\]+)$/.exec(str)[1];
}

var splitTest = function (str) {
    return str.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop();
}

substringTest took   0.09508600000000023ms
replaceTest   took   0.049203000000000004ms
execTest      took   0.04859899999999939ms
splitTest     took   0.02505500000000005ms

And the winner is the Split and Pop style answer, Thanks to bobince !


var file_name = file_path.substring(file_path.lastIndexOf('/'));


What platform does the path come from? Windows paths are different from POSIX paths are different from Mac OS 9 paths are different from RISC OS paths are different...

If it's a web app where the filename can come from different platforms there is no one solution. However a reasonable stab is to use both '\' (Windows) and '/' (Linux/Unix/Mac and also an alternative on Windows) as path separators. Here's a non-RegExp version for extra fun:

var leafname= pathname.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop();

<script type="text/javascript">
    function test()
    {
        var path = "C:/es/h221.txt";
        var pos =path.lastIndexOf( path.charAt( path.indexOf(":")+1) );
        alert("pos=" + pos );
        var filename = path.substring( pos+1);
        alert( filename );
    }
</script>
<form name="InputForm"
      action="page2.asp"
      method="post">
    <P><input type="button" name="b1" value="test file button"
    onClick="test()">
</form>

Not more concise than nickf's answer, but this one directly "extracts" the answer instead of replacing unwanted parts with an empty string:

var filename = /([^\\]+)$/.exec(fullPath)[1];

Successfully Script for your question ,Full Test

<script src="~/Scripts/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>

<p  title="text" id="FileNameShow" ></p>
<input type="file"
   id="myfile"
   onchange="javascript:showSrc();"
   size="30">


<script type="text/javascript">

function replaceAll(txt, replace, with_this) {
    return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'), with_this);
}

function showSrc() {
    document.getElementById("myframe").href = document.getElementById("myfile").value;
    var theexa = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///", "");
    var path = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///", "");
    var correctPath = replaceAll(path, "%20", " ");
   alert(correctPath);
    var filename = correctPath.replace(/^.*[\\\/]/, '')
    $("#FileNameShow").text(filename)
}


The following line of JavaScript code will give you the file name.

var z = location.pathname.substring(location.pathname.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
alert(z);

var file_name = file_path.substring(file_path.lastIndexOf('/'));


Another one

var filename = fullPath.split(/[\\\/]/).pop();

Here split have a regular expression with a character class
The two characters have to be escaped with '\'

Or use array to split

var filename = fullPath.split(['/','\\']).pop();

It would be the way to dynamically push more separators into an array, if needed.
If fullPath is explicitly set by a string in your code it need to escape the backslash!
Like "C:\\Documents and Settings\\img\\recycled log.jpg"


Little function to include in your project to determine the filename from a full path for Windows as well as GNU/Linux & UNIX absolute paths.

/**
 * @param {String} path Absolute path
 * @return {String} File name
 * @todo argument type checking during runtime
 * @see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/includes
 * @see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/slice
 * @see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/lastIndexOf
 * @example basename('/home/johndoe/github/my-package/webpack.config.js') // "webpack.config.js"
 * @example basename('C:\\Users\\johndoe\\github\\my-package\\webpack.config.js') // "webpack.config.js"
 */
function basename(path) {
  let separator = '/'

  const windowsSeparator = '\\'

  if (path.includes(windowsSeparator)) {
    separator = windowsSeparator
  }

  return path.slice(path.lastIndexOf(separator) + 1)
}

What platform does the path come from? Windows paths are different from POSIX paths are different from Mac OS 9 paths are different from RISC OS paths are different...

If it's a web app where the filename can come from different platforms there is no one solution. However a reasonable stab is to use both '\' (Windows) and '/' (Linux/Unix/Mac and also an alternative on Windows) as path separators. Here's a non-RegExp version for extra fun:

var leafname= pathname.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop();

I use:

var lastPart = path.replace(/\\$/,'').split('\\').pop();

It replaces the last \ so it also works with folders.


Ates, your solution doesn't protect against an empty string as input. In that case, it fails with TypeError: /([^(\\|\/|\:)]+)$/.exec(fullPath) has no properties.

bobince, here's a version of nickf's that handles DOS, POSIX, and HFS path delimiters (and empty strings):

return fullPath.replace(/^.*(\\|\/|\:)/, '');

A question asking "get file name without extension" refer to here but no solution for that. Here is the solution modified from Bobbie's solution.

var name_without_ext = (file_name.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop().split('.'))[0];

Ates, your solution doesn't protect against an empty string as input. In that case, it fails with TypeError: /([^(\\|\/|\:)]+)$/.exec(fullPath) has no properties.

bobince, here's a version of nickf's that handles DOS, POSIX, and HFS path delimiters (and empty strings):

return fullPath.replace(/^.*(\\|\/|\:)/, '');

Not more concise than nickf's answer, but this one directly "extracts" the answer instead of replacing unwanted parts with an empty string:

var filename = /([^\\]+)$/.exec(fullPath)[1];

Little function to include in your project to determine the filename from a full path for Windows as well as GNU/Linux & UNIX absolute paths.

/**
 * @param {String} path Absolute path
 * @return {String} File name
 * @todo argument type checking during runtime
 * @see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/includes
 * @see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/slice
 * @see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/lastIndexOf
 * @example basename('/home/johndoe/github/my-package/webpack.config.js') // "webpack.config.js"
 * @example basename('C:\\Users\\johndoe\\github\\my-package\\webpack.config.js') // "webpack.config.js"
 */
function basename(path) {
  let separator = '/'

  const windowsSeparator = '\\'

  if (path.includes(windowsSeparator)) {
    separator = windowsSeparator
  }

  return path.slice(path.lastIndexOf(separator) + 1)
}

Not more concise than nickf's answer, but this one directly "extracts" the answer instead of replacing unwanted parts with an empty string:

var filename = /([^\\]+)$/.exec(fullPath)[1];

function getFileName(path, isExtension){

  var fullFileName, fileNameWithoutExtension;

  // replace \ to /
  while( path.indexOf("\\") !== -1 ){
    path = path.replace("\\", "/");
  }

  fullFileName = path.split("/").pop();
  return (isExtension) ? fullFileName : fullFileName.slice( 0, fullFileName.lastIndexOf(".") );
}

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Testing File Upload Inputs</title>
        <script type="text/javascript">
            <!--
            function showSrc() {
                document.getElementById("myframe").href = document.getElementById("myfile").value;
                var theexa = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///","");
                alert(document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///",""));
            }
            // -->
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <form method="get" action="#"  >
            <input type="file" 
                   id="myfile" 
                   onChange="javascript:showSrc();" 
                   size="30">
            <br>
            <a href="#" id="myframe"></a>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

<script type="text/javascript">
    function test()
    {
        var path = "C:/es/h221.txt";
        var pos =path.lastIndexOf( path.charAt( path.indexOf(":")+1) );
        alert("pos=" + pos );
        var filename = path.substring( pos+1);
        alert( filename );
    }
</script>
<form name="InputForm"
      action="page2.asp"
      method="post">
    <P><input type="button" name="b1" value="test file button"
    onClick="test()">
</form>

This solution is much simpler and generic, for both 'file name' and 'path'.

const str = 'C:\\Documents and Settings\\img\\recycled log.jpg';

// regex to split path to two groups '(.*[\\\/])' for path and '(.*)' for file name
const regexPath = /^(.*[\\\/])(.*)$/;

// execute the match on the string str
const match = regexPath.exec(str);
if (match !== null) {
    // we ignore the match[0] because it's the match for the hole path string
    const filePath = match[1];
    const fileName = match[2];
}

A question asking "get file name without extension" refer to here but no solution for that. Here is the solution modified from Bobbie's solution.

var name_without_ext = (file_name.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop().split('.'))[0];

The complete answer is:

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Testing File Upload Inputs</title>
        <script type="text/javascript">

        function replaceAll(txt, replace, with_this) {
            return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'),with_this);
        }

        function showSrc() {
            document.getElementById("myframe").href = document.getElementById("myfile").value;
            var theexa = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///","");
            var path = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///","");
            var correctPath = replaceAll(path,"%20"," ");
            alert(correctPath);
        }
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <form method="get" action="#"  >
            <input type="file"
                   id="myfile"
                   onChange="javascript:showSrc();"
                   size="30">
            <br>
            <a href="#" id="myframe"></a>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

Another one

var filename = fullPath.split(/[\\\/]/).pop();

Here split have a regular expression with a character class
The two characters have to be escaped with '\'

Or use array to split

var filename = fullPath.split(['/','\\']).pop();

It would be the way to dynamically push more separators into an array, if needed.
If fullPath is explicitly set by a string in your code it need to escape the backslash!
Like "C:\\Documents and Settings\\img\\recycled log.jpg"


This solution is much simpler and generic, for both 'file name' and 'path'.

const str = 'C:\\Documents and Settings\\img\\recycled log.jpg';

// regex to split path to two groups '(.*[\\\/])' for path and '(.*)' for file name
const regexPath = /^(.*[\\\/])(.*)$/;

// execute the match on the string str
const match = regexPath.exec(str);
if (match !== null) {
    // we ignore the match[0] because it's the match for the hole path string
    const filePath = match[1];
    const fileName = match[2];
}

In Node.js, you can use Path's parse module...

var path = require('path');
var file = '/home/user/dir/file.txt';

var filename = path.parse(file).base;
//=> 'file.txt'

The complete answer is:

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Testing File Upload Inputs</title>
        <script type="text/javascript">

        function replaceAll(txt, replace, with_this) {
            return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'),with_this);
        }

        function showSrc() {
            document.getElementById("myframe").href = document.getElementById("myfile").value;
            var theexa = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///","");
            var path = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///","");
            var correctPath = replaceAll(path,"%20"," ");
            alert(correctPath);
        }
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <form method="get" action="#"  >
            <input type="file"
                   id="myfile"
                   onChange="javascript:showSrc();"
                   size="30">
            <br>
            <a href="#" id="myframe"></a>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

I use:

var lastPart = path.replace(/\\$/,'').split('\\').pop();

It replaces the last \ so it also works with folders.


Successfully Script for your question ,Full Test

<script src="~/Scripts/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>

<p  title="text" id="FileNameShow" ></p>
<input type="file"
   id="myfile"
   onchange="javascript:showSrc();"
   size="30">


<script type="text/javascript">

function replaceAll(txt, replace, with_this) {
    return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'), with_this);
}

function showSrc() {
    document.getElementById("myframe").href = document.getElementById("myfile").value;
    var theexa = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///", "");
    var path = document.getElementById("myframe").href.replace("file:///", "");
    var correctPath = replaceAll(path, "%20", " ");
   alert(correctPath);
    var filename = correctPath.replace(/^.*[\\\/]/, '')
    $("#FileNameShow").text(filename)
}


function getFileName(path, isExtension){

  var fullFileName, fileNameWithoutExtension;

  // replace \ to /
  while( path.indexOf("\\") !== -1 ){
    path = path.replace("\\", "/");
  }

  fullFileName = path.split("/").pop();
  return (isExtension) ? fullFileName : fullFileName.slice( 0, fullFileName.lastIndexOf(".") );
}

Just for the sake of performance, I tested all the answers given here:

var substringTest = function (str) {
    return str.substring(str.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
}

var replaceTest = function (str) {
    return str.replace(/^.*(\\|\/|\:)/, '');
}

var execTest = function (str) {
    return /([^\\]+)$/.exec(str)[1];
}

var splitTest = function (str) {
    return str.split('\\').pop().split('/').pop();
}

substringTest took   0.09508600000000023ms
replaceTest   took   0.049203000000000004ms
execTest      took   0.04859899999999939ms
splitTest     took   0.02505500000000005ms

And the winner is the Split and Pop style answer, Thanks to bobince !