One way I use is to use path.join and process.cwd(). cwd means "Current Working Directory".
Example:
const path = require('path');
const place = path.join(process.cwd(), '..', '..', 'my-folder');
You can also use __dirname which is relative to the file the code is executed from, which may be different from the Current Working Directory.
const path = require('path');
const place = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'my-folder');
If you want to use resolve Windows environment variables, I would recommend making a helper function like this:
/**
* Replaces all environment variables with their actual value.
* Keeps intact non-environment variables using '%'.
*
* @example
* // 'C:\Users\bob\Desktop\AMD64'
* resolveWindowsEnvironmentVariables('C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%');
*
* @param {string} filePath The input file path with percents.
* @return {string} The resolved file path.
*/
function resolveWindowsEnvironmentVariables (filePath) {
if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
return filePath;
}
if (!filePath || typeof(filePath) !== 'string') {
return undefined;
}
/**
* Returns the value stored in the process.env for a given
* environment variable. Or the original '%ASDF%' string if
* not found.
*
* @example
* replaceEnvironmentVariable('%USERNAME%', 'USERNAME');
*
* @param {string} withPercents '%USERNAME%'
* @param {string} withoutPercents 'USERNAME'
* @return {string} 'bob' || '%USERNAME%'
*/
function replaceEnvironmentVariable (withPercents, withoutPercents) {
let found = process.env[withoutPercents];
// 'C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\%asdf%' => 'C:\Users\bob\Desktop\%asdf%'
return found || withPercents;
}
// 'C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%' => 'C:\Users\bob\Desktop\AMD64'
filePath = filePath.replace(/%([^%]+)%/g, replaceEnvironmentVariable);
return filePath;
}
You may also want to resolve non-windows paths
/**
* Resolves paths that start with a tilde to the user's
* home directory.
*
* @example
* // '/home/bob/GitHub/Repo/file.png'
* resolveTilde('~/GitHub/Repo/file.png');
*
* @param {string} filePath '~/GitHub/Repo/file.png'
* @return {string} '/home/bob/GitHub/Repo/file.png'
*/
function resolveTilde (filePath) {
if (process.platform === 'win32') {
return filePath;
}
if (!filePath || typeof(filePath) !== 'string') {
return undefined;
}
const os = require('os');
// '~/folder/path' or '~' not '~alias/folder/path'
if (filePath.startsWith('~/') || filePath === '~') {
return filePath.replace('~', os.homedir());
}
return filePath;
}
