Get path of executable

Question

I know this question has been asked before but I still haven\'t seen a satisfactory answer, or a definitive \"no, this cannot be done\", so I\'ll ask again!

All I wa

Answer 1

For Windows, you have the problem of how to strip the executable from the result of GetModuleFileName(). The Windows API call PathRemoveFileSpec() that Nate used for that purpose in his answer changed between Windows 8 and its predecessors. So how to remain compatible with both and safe? Luckily, there's C++17 (or Boost, if you're using an older compiler). I do this:

#include <windows.h>
#include <string>
#include <filesystem>
namespace fs = std::experimental::filesystem;

// We could use fs::path as return type, but if you're not aware of
// std::experimental::filesystem, you probably handle filenames
// as strings anyway in the remainder of your code.  I'm on Japanese
// Windows, so wide chars are a must.
std::wstring getDirectoryWithCurrentExecutable()
{
    int size = 256;
    std::vector<wchar_t> charBuffer;
    // Let's be safe, and find the right buffer size programmatically.
    do {
        size *= 2;
        charBuffer.resize(size);
        // Resize until filename fits.  GetModuleFileNameW returns the
        // number of characters written to the buffer, so if the
        // return value is smaller than the size of the buffer, it was
        // large enough.
    } while (GetModuleFileNameW(NULL, charBuffer.data(), size) == size);
    // Typically: c:/program files (x86)/something/foo/bar/exe/files/win64/baz.exe
    // (Note that windows supports forward and backward slashes as path
    // separators, so you have to be careful when searching through a path
    // manually.)

    // Let's extract the interesting part:
    fs::path path(charBuffer.data());  // Contains the full path including .exe
    return path.remove_filename()  // Extract the directory ...
               .w_str();           // ... and convert to a string.
}

Answer 2

For windows:

GetModuleFileName - returns the exe path + exe filename

To remove filename
PathRemoveFileSpec

Answer 3

in Unix(including Linux) try 'which', in Windows try 'where'.

#include <stdio.h>

#define _UNIX

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
        char cmd[128];
        char buf[128];
        FILE* fp = NULL;
#if defined(_UNIX)
        sprintf(cmd, "which %s > my.path", argv[0]);
#else
        sprintf(cmd, "where %s > my.path", argv[0]);
#endif
        system(cmd);
        fp = fopen("my.path", "r");
        fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), fp);
        fclose(fp);

        printf("full path: %s\n", buf);
        unlink("my.path");

        return 0;
}

Answer 4

I'm not sure about Linux, but try this for Windows:

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std ;

int main()
{
     char ownPth[MAX_PATH]; 

     // When NULL is passed to GetModuleHandle, the handle of the exe itself is returned
     HMODULE hModule = GetModuleHandle(NULL);
     if (hModule != NULL)
     {
         // Use GetModuleFileName() with module handle to get the path
         GetModuleFileName(hModule, ownPth, (sizeof(ownPth))); 
         cout << ownPth << endl ;
         system("PAUSE");
         return 0;
     }
     else
     {
         cout << "Module handle is NULL" << endl ;
         system("PAUSE");
         return 0;
     }
}

Answer 5

The following works as a quick and dirty solution, but note that it is far from being foolproof:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std ;

int main( int argc, char** argv)
{
    cout << argv[0] << endl ;
    return 0;
}

Answer 6

Using args[0] and looking for '/' (or '\\'):

#include <string>
#include <iostream> // to show the result

int main( int numArgs, char *args[])
{
    // Get the last position of '/'
    std::string aux(args[0]);

    // get '/' or '\\' depending on unix/mac or windows.
#if defined(_WIN32) || defined(WIN32)
    int pos = aux.rfind('\\');
#else
    int pos = aux.rfind('/');
#endif

    // Get the path and the name
    std::string path = aux.substr(0,pos+1);
    std::string name = aux.substr(pos+1);
    // show results
    std::cout << "Path: " << path << std::endl;
    std::cout << "Name: " << name << std::endl;
}

EDITED: If '/' does not exist, pos==-1 so the result is correct.