CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsbatch-filecmd
selvakumar
selvakumar

Reputation: 1791

Get Parent directory of a specific path in batch script

Hi I have full file path in a variable of batch file. How to get its first and second level parent directory path?

set path=C:\SecondParent\FirstParent\testfile.ini

Upvotes: 11

Views: 28428

Answers (3)

and1er
and1er

Reputation: 1101

It is possible to get the file first parent (base dir) using a small subroutine that returns a ~dp path to a file, :GetFileBaseDir and :GetFileBaseDirWithoutEndSlash in the example below.

Thank to @rojo for a way to achive the goal for multiple parents. I've enveloped his solution in a subroutine :GetDirParentN to make it more useful.

@echo off
    setlocal
REM Initial file path
    set "pathTestFile=C:\SecondParent\FirstParent\testfile.ini"
    echo pathTestFile:              "%pathTestFile%"

REM First level parent (base dir)
    REM with ending backslash
    call :GetFileBaseDir dirFileBase "%pathTestFile%"
    echo dirFileBase:               "%dirFileBase%"

    REM Same but without ending backslash
    call :GetFileBaseDirWithoutEndSlash dirFileBaseWithBackSlash "%pathTestFile%"
    echo dirFileBaseWithBackSlash:  "%dirFileBaseWithBackSlash%"

    echo.

REM Based on @rojo answer, using subroutine
    REM One level up
    call :GetDirParentN dirFileParent1 "%pathTestFile%" ".."
    echo dirFileParent1:            "%dirFileParent1%"


    REM Two levels up
    call :GetDirParentN dirFileParent2 "%pathTestFile%" "..\.."
    echo dirFileParent2:            "%dirFileParent2%"


    REM Three levels up
    call :GetDirParentN dirFileParent3 "%pathTestFile%" "..\..\.."
    echo dirFileParent3:            "%dirFileParent3%"

    exit /b 0


:GetFileBaseDir
    :: sets the value to dirFileBase variable
    set "%~1=%~dp2"
    exit /b 0


:GetFileBaseDirWithoutEndSlash
    set "dirWithBackSlash=%~dp2"
    REM substring from the start to the end minus 1 char from the end
    set "%~1=%dirWithBackSlash:~0,-1%"
    exit /b 0


:GetDirParentN
    for %%I in ("%~2\%~3") do set "%~1=%%~fI"
    exit /b 0

The output:

pathTestFile:              "C:\SecondParent\FirstParent\testfile.ini"
dirFileBase:               "C:\SecondParent\FirstParent\"
dirFileBaseWithBackSlash:  "C:\SecondParent\FirstParent"

dirFileParent1:            "C:\SecondParent\FirstParent"
dirFileParent2:            "C:\SecondParent"
dirFileParent3:            "C:\"

Upvotes: 1

rojo
rojo

Reputation: 24466

As npocmaka correctly suggests, pick a different variable from %PATH% (or any of these other environment variables). Secondly, make sure your script uses setlocal to avoid junking up your console session's environment with the variables in this script. Thirdly, just add a \.. for each ancestor you want to navigate. No need to bother with substring manipulation.

@echo off
setlocal

set "dir=C:\SecondParent\FirstParent\testfile.ini"
for %%I in ("%dir%\..\..") do set "grandparent=%%~fI"
echo %grandparent%

Upvotes: 9

npocmaka
npocmaka

Reputation: 57252

do not use variable PATH for this. %PATH% is a built-in variable used by the command prompt.

@echo off
set "_path=C:\SecondParent\FirstParent\testfile.ini"
for %%a in ("%_path%") do set "p_dir=%%~dpa"
echo %p_dir%
for %%a in (%p_dir:~0,-1%) do set "p2_dir=%%~dpa"
echo %p2_dir%

Upvotes: 20

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