Path.Combine absolute with relative path strings

Question

I'm trying to join a Windows path with a relative path using Path.Combine.

However, Path.Combine(@"C:\blah",@"..\bling") returns C:\blah\..\bling instead of C:\bling\.

Does anyone know how to accomplish this without writing my own relative path resolver (which shouldn't be too hard)?

Solution 1

What Works:

string relativePath = "..\\bling.txt";
string baseDirectory = "C:\\blah\\";
string absolutePath = Path.GetFullPath(baseDirectory + relativePath);

(result: absolutePath="C:\bling.txt")

What doesn't work

string relativePath = "..\\bling.txt";
Uri baseAbsoluteUri = new Uri("C:\\blah\\");
string absolutePath = new Uri(baseAbsoluteUri, relativePath).AbsolutePath;

(result: absolutePath="C:/blah/bling.txt")

Solution 2

Call Path.GetFullPath on the combined path http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.path.getfullpath.aspx

> Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(@"C:\blah\",@"..\bling"))
C:\bling

(I agree Path.Combine ought to do this by itself)

Solution 3

Path.GetFullPath(@"c:\windows\temp\..\system32")?

Solution 4

For windows universal apps Path.GetFullPath() is not available, you can use the System.Uri class instead:

 Uri uri = new Uri(Path.Combine(@"C:\blah\",@"..\bling"));
 Console.WriteLine(uri.LocalPath);

Solution 5

This will give you exactly what you need (path does NOT have to exist for this to work)

DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\blah\..\bling");
string cleanPath = di.FullName;

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Comments

[CVertex]

We're getting different answers here.. I don't think it's a duplicate

[Greg Dean]

it's duplicate, although i think Path.GetFullName is a better solution.

[CVertex]

You just contradicted yourself. But thanks for the alternate answer.

[Julien Bérubé]

possible duplicate of Path.Combine and the dot notation

[Llyle]

Yes, that is what I am insinuating with the post

[Nelson Rothermel]

Just make sure baseDirectory has the trailing \\, otherwise you end up with C:\\blah..\\bling.txt and that doesn't work. In that case you can manually add them to the string or do Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(baseDirectory, relativePath))

[cod3monk3y]

Note: should result in c:\windows\system32

[cod3monk3y]

Shouldn't the result of your What Works section be C:\bling.txt?

[Paul Williams]

Both Path.GetFullPath() and DirectoryInfo.FullName will work on a fictitious path. The problem is when the file actually exists, the executing process needs FileIOPermission - true for both APIs. (see MSDN)

[F-H]

Why does the URI-based method not work? According to this answer, the result is valid (and it seems to be recognized on Windows, as well).

[derekantrican]

Note that this only works if the first path is an absolute path. It doesn't work for Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(@"..\..\blah",@"\bling"))