How to get the current directory in a C program

Question

I m making a C program where I need to get the directory that the program is started from   This program is written for UNIX computers  I ve been looking at opendir   and telldir    but telldir   returns a off t  long int   so it really doesn t help me    How can I get the current path in a string  char array

User · Answer

To get current directory  where you execute your target program   you can use the following example code  which works for both Visual Studio and Linux MacOS gcc clang   both C and C      include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt stdlib h gt   include  lt string h gt    if defined  MSC VER   include  lt direct h gt   define getcwd  getcwd  elif defined   GNUC     include  lt unistd h gt   endif  int main         char  buffer       if   buffer getcwd NULL  0      NULL            perror  failed to get current directory n          else           printf   s  nLength   zu n   buffer  strlen buffer            free buffer              return 0

User · Answer

Note that getcwd 3  is also available in Microsoft s libc  getcwd 3   and works the same way you d expect   Must link with -loldnames  oldnames lib  which is done automatically in most cases   or use  getcwd    The unprefixed version is unavailable under Windows RT

User · Answer

Have you had a look at getcwd      include  lt unistd h gt  char  getcwd char  buf  size t size     Simple example    include  lt unistd h gt   include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt limits h gt   int main        char cwd PATH MAX      if  getcwd cwd  sizeof cwd      NULL           printf  Current working dir   s n   cwd        else          perror  getcwd   error           return 1          return 0

User · Answer

Look up the man page for getcwd

User · Answer

Note that getcwd 3  is also available in Microsoft s libc  getcwd 3   and works the same way you d expect   Must link with -loldnames  oldnames lib  which is done automatically in most cases   or use  getcwd    The unprefixed version is unavailable under Windows RT

User · Answer

include  lt stdio h gt      defines FILENAME MAX       define WINDOWS     uncomment this line to use it for windows     ifdef WINDOWS  include  lt direct h gt   define GetCurrentDir  getcwd  else  include  lt unistd h gt   define GetCurrentDir getcwd  endif  int main      char buff FILENAME MAX     GetCurrentDir  buff  FILENAME MAX      printf  Current working dir   s n   buff     return 1

User · Answer

Use    getcwd  include  lt stdio h gt      defines FILENAME MAX       define WINDOWS     uncomment this line to use it for windows     ifdef WINDOWS  include  lt direct h gt   define GetCurrentDir  getcwd  else  include  lt unistd h gt   define GetCurrentDir getcwd  endif  int main      char buff FILENAME MAX     GetCurrentDir  buff  FILENAME MAX      printf  quot Current working dir   s n quot   buff     return 1     OR  include lt stdio h gt   include lt unistd h gt    include lt stdlib h gt   main     char  buf  buf  char   malloc 100 sizeof char    getcwd buf 100   printf  quot  n  s  n quot  buf

User · Answer

Look up the man page for getcwd

User · Answer

To get current directory  where you execute your target program   you can use the following example code  which works for both Visual Studio and Linux MacOS gcc clang   both C and C      include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt stdlib h gt   include  lt string h gt    if defined  MSC VER   include  lt direct h gt   define getcwd  getcwd  elif defined   GNUC     include  lt unistd h gt   endif  int main         char  buffer       if   buffer getcwd NULL  0      NULL            perror  failed to get current directory n          else           printf   s  nLength   zu n   buffer  strlen buffer            free buffer              return 0

User · Answer

include  lt stdio h gt      defines FILENAME MAX       define WINDOWS     uncomment this line to use it for windows     ifdef WINDOWS  include  lt direct h gt   define GetCurrentDir  getcwd  else  include  lt unistd h gt   define GetCurrentDir getcwd  endif  int main      char buff FILENAME MAX     GetCurrentDir  buff  FILENAME MAX      printf  Current working dir   s n   buff     return 1

User · Answer

Use    getcwd  include  lt stdio h gt      defines FILENAME MAX       define WINDOWS     uncomment this line to use it for windows     ifdef WINDOWS  include  lt direct h gt   define GetCurrentDir  getcwd  else  include  lt unistd h gt   define GetCurrentDir getcwd  endif  int main      char buff FILENAME MAX     GetCurrentDir  buff  FILENAME MAX      printf  quot Current working dir   s n quot   buff     return 1     OR  include lt stdio h gt   include lt unistd h gt    include lt stdlib h gt   main     char  buf  buf  char   malloc 100 sizeof char    getcwd buf 100   printf  quot  n  s  n quot  buf

User · Answer

Although the question is tagged Unix  people also get to visit it when their target platform is Windows  and the answer for Windows is the GetCurrentDirectory   function   DWORD WINAPI GetCurrentDirectory     In   DWORD  nBufferLength     Out  LPTSTR lpBuffer      These answers apply to both C and C   code   Link suggested by user4581301 in a comment to another question  and verified as the current top choice with a Google search  site microsoft com getcurrentdirectory

User · Answer

Although the question is tagged Unix  people also get to visit it when their target platform is Windows  and the answer for Windows is the GetCurrentDirectory   function   DWORD WINAPI GetCurrentDirectory     In   DWORD  nBufferLength     Out  LPTSTR lpBuffer      These answers apply to both C and C   code   Link suggested by user4581301 in a comment to another question  and verified as the current top choice with a Google search  site microsoft com getcurrentdirectory

User · Answer

Have you had a look at getcwd      include  lt unistd h gt  char  getcwd char  buf  size t size     Simple example    include  lt unistd h gt   include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt limits h gt   int main        char cwd PATH MAX      if  getcwd cwd  sizeof cwd      NULL           printf  Current working dir   s n   cwd        else          perror  getcwd   error           return 1          return 0

User · Answer

Look up the man page for getcwd

User · Answer

Look up the man page for getcwd

User · Answer

Have you had a look at getcwd      include  lt unistd h gt  char  getcwd char  buf  size t size     Simple example    include  lt unistd h gt   include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt limits h gt   int main        char cwd PATH MAX      if  getcwd cwd  sizeof cwd      NULL           printf  Current working dir   s n   cwd        else          perror  getcwd   error           return 1          return 0

User · Answer

Have you had a look at getcwd      include  lt unistd h gt  char  getcwd char  buf  size t size     Simple example    include  lt unistd h gt   include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt limits h gt   int main        char cwd PATH MAX      if  getcwd cwd  sizeof cwd      NULL           printf  Current working dir   s n   cwd        else          perror  getcwd   error           return 1          return 0

[c] How to get the current directory in a C program?

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