std::filesystem::current_path

 

C++

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Standard Library Headers

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Named requirements

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

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Ranges library (C++20)

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Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Technical Specifications

 

Filesystem library

Classes
filesystem::path filesystem::filesystem_error filesystem::directory_entry filesystem::directory_iterator filesystem::recursive_directory_iterator   filesystem::file_status	filesystem::space_info filesystem::file_type filesystem::perms filesystem::perm_options filesystem::copy_options filesystem::directory_options filesystem::file_time_type
Functions
filesystem::absolute filesystem::canonicalfilesystem::weakly_canonical filesystem::relativefilesystem::proximate filesystem::copy filesystem::copy_file filesystem::copy_symlink filesystem::create_directory filesystem::create_directories filesystem::create_hard_link filesystem::create_symlink filesystem::create_directory_symlink filesystem::current_path	filesystem::exists filesystem::equivalent filesystem::file_size filesystem::hard_link_count filesystem::last_write_time filesystem::permissions filesystem::read_symlink filesystem::remove filesystem::remove_all filesystem::rename filesystem::resize_file filesystem::space filesystem::status filesystem::symlink_status filesystem::temp_directory_path
File types
filesystem::is_block_file filesystem::is_character_file filesystem::is_directory filesystem::is_empty filesystem::status_known	filesystem::is_fifo filesystem::is_other filesystem::is_regular_file filesystem::is_socket filesystem::is_symlink

 

Defined in header <filesystem>
path current_path();	(1)	(since C++17)
path current_path( std::error_code& ec );	(2)	(since C++17)
void current_path( const std::filesystem::path& p );	(3)	(since C++17)
void current_path( const std::filesystem::path& p,                    std::error_code& ec ) noexcept;	(4)	(since C++17)

Returns or changes the current path.

1-2) Returns the absolute path of the current working directory, obtained as if (in native format) by POSIX getcwd. (2) returns path() if error occurs.

3-4) Changes the current working directory to p, as if by POSIX chdir.

Parameters

p	-	path to change the current working directory to
ec	-	out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overloads.

Return value

1-2) Returns the current working directory.

3-4) (none).

Exceptions

1-2) The overload that does not take a std::error_code& parameter throws filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with the OS error code as the error code argument. The overload taking a std::error_code& parameter sets it to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur. Any overload not marked noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails.

3-4) The overload that does not take a std::error_code& parameter throws filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the first path argument and the OS error code as the error code argument. The overload taking a std::error_code& parameter sets it to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur. Any overload not marked noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails.

Notes

The current working directory is the directory, associated with the process, that is used as the starting location in pathname resolution for relative paths.

The current path as returned by many operating systems is a dangerous global variable. It may be changed unexpectedly by third-party or system library functions, or by another thread.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <filesystem>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;
int main()
{
    std::cout << "Current path is " << fs::current_path() << '\n'; // (1)
    fs::current_path(fs::temp_directory_path()); // (3)
    std::cout << "Current path is " << fs::current_path() << '\n';
}

Possible output:

Current path is "D:/local/ConsoleApplication1"
Current path is "E:/Temp"

See also

temp_directory_path (C++17)

returns a directory suitable for temporary files (function)