How do I get the directory from a file's full path?

Question

What is the simplest way to get the directory that a file is in? I'm using this to set a working directory.

string filename = @"C:\MyDirectory\MyFile.bat";

In this example, I should get "C:\MyDirectory".

user_22656 · Answer

If you've definitely got an absolute path, use Path.GetDirectoryName(path).

If you might only get a relative name, use new FileInfo(path).Directory.FullName.

Note that Path and FileInfo are both found in the namespace System.IO.

Cherian_22039 · Answer

System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(filename)

Grzenio_5363 · Answer

Path.GetDirectoryName(filename);

user_65358 · Answer

You can use System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(fileName), or turn the path into a FileInfo using FileInfo.Directory.

If you're doing other things with the path, the FileInfo class may have advantages.

user_74022 · Answer

You can use Path.GetDirectoryName and just pass in the filename.

user_1700775 · Answer

In my case, I needed to find the directory name of a full path (of a directory) so I simply did:

var dirName = path.Split('\').Last();