CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javafilefilesystemsguavaapache-commons
BeeOnRope
BeeOnRope

Reputation: 64925

Resolve a path name with .. parent directory specifiers ("dot dot") without resolving symlinks

Given a path like /a/./b/c/../d, I would like to remove all the "current directory" indicators (i.e., period) and "parent directory" indicators (i.e., ..), giving a/b/d.

I could use File.getCanonicalPath(), but that also resolves symlinks, which I don't want.

Any simple way? That is, simpler than writing a tokenizer and handling it all myself.

Bonus points if you can tell me what the right name for '.' and '..' are in this context.

Upvotes: 15

Views: 7214

Answers (3)

Chadi
Chadi

Reputation: 787

Path.normalize does what you're looking for, and does not require any third party. It is available since jdk8.

Paths.get("/a/./b/c/../d").normalize()
=> /a/b/d

Be careful, however, that it will resolve the path according to the current OS. Executing the same command on Windows yields a different result.

Paths.get("/a/./b/c/../d").normalize()
=> \a\b\d

Upvotes: 1

doublesharp
doublesharp

Reputation: 27607

You can use FilenameUtils.normalize() in the Apache Commons IO library - see javadoc here.

"Dot" (.) is the current directory and "dot dot" (..) is the parent directory - read up on unix directories.

Upvotes: 5

ColinD
ColinD

Reputation: 110054

Guava also has this as Files.simplifyPath(String). Your best bet, though, (if you can use JDK7) is to represent your path as a Path and use Path.normalize() to get the normalized version.

Upvotes: 13

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