Is there any C# command to remove the ".." in a path?

Question

I have the following:

// Get my executable's path
string exeFile = ( new System.Uri( Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().CodeBase ) ).AbsolutePath;

// Get its directory
string exeFolder = Path.GetDirectoryName( exeFile );

// Get rid of those %20 and stuff
exeFolder = Uri.UnescapeDataString( exeFolder );

// Get some relative path from my .config file
string relativePath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MyRelativePath"] );

// Woa. The final result, uff.
string myFinalPath = Path.Combine( exeFolder, relativePath );

Now, if MyRelativePath is something like ..\Xpto\PleaseReadMe.txt and my executable is located in C:\Ypto\RunMe.exe, I will end with:

C:\Ypto\..\Xpto\PleaseReadMe.txt

instead of

C:\Xpto\PleaseReadeMe.txt

Considering that I must present this path in a textbox, of course I don't want users to see the ugly "\Ypto.." part. I can easily make a function with a few lines to parse this string and remove these constructions, but I wonder if there is a C# method that elegantly does this. If not, what algorithm do you recommend?

Thank you!

Answer 1

You can go with Path.GetFullPath method. Also, you can remove the Uri handling:

// Get my executable's path
string exeFile = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;

// Get its directory
string exeFolder = Path.GetDirectoryName( exeFile );

// Get some relative path from my .config file
string relativePath = @"..\Xpto\PleaseReadMe.txt";

// Woa. The final result, uff.
string myFinalPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(exeFolder, relativePath));

Console.WriteLine(myFinalPath);

Sample test:

• C:\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\bin\SAMPLE.CMD @DEBUG\ConsoleApplication1.exe

Output:

C:\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\bin\Xpto\PleaseReadMe.txt

Answer 2

You're looking for Path.GetFullPath().