How do I get the path of the assembly the code is in?

Question

Is there a way to get the path for the assembly in which the current code resides? I do not want the path of the calling assembly, just the one containing the code.

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Answer 1

Same as John's answer, but a slightly less verbose extension method.

public static string GetDirectoryPath(this Assembly assembly)
{
    string filePath = new Uri(assembly.CodeBase).LocalPath;
    return Path.GetDirectoryName(filePath);            
}

Now you can do:

var localDir = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetDirectoryPath();

or if you prefer:

var localDir = typeof(DaoTests).Assembly.GetDirectoryPath();

Answer 2

I've defined the following property as we use this often in unit testing.

public static string AssemblyDirectory
{
    get
    {
        string codeBase = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase;
        UriBuilder uri = new UriBuilder(codeBase);
        string path = Uri.UnescapeDataString(uri.Path);
        return Path.GetDirectoryName(path);
    }
}

The Assembly.Location property sometimes gives you some funny results when using NUnit (where assemblies run from a temporary folder), so I prefer to use CodeBase which gives you the path in URI format, then UriBuild.UnescapeDataString removes the File:// at the beginning, and GetDirectoryName changes it to the normal windows format.

Answer 3

The only solution that worked for me when using CodeBase and UNC Network shares was:

System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(new System.Uri(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase).LocalPath);

It also works with normal URIs too.

Answer 4

I believe this would work for any kind of application:

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.RelativeSearchPath ?? AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory

Answer 5

What about this:

System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);

Answer 6

I got the same behaviour in the NUnit in the past. By default NUnit copies your assembly into the temp directory. You can change this behaviour in the NUnit settings:

Maybe TestDriven.NET and MbUnit GUI have the same settings.