C++ [Windows] Path to the folder where the executable is located [duplicate]

Question

I need to access some files with fstream in my C++ app on Windows. Those files are all located in subfolders of the folder where my exe file is located.

• What is the easiest and more important: safest way to get the path to the folder of the current executable?

Answer 1

Use GetModuleFileName to find out where your exe is running from.

WCHAR path[MAX_PATH]; GetModuleFileNameW(NULL, path, MAX_PATH); 

Then strip the exe name from path.

Answer 2

GetThisPath.h

/// dest is expected to be MAX_PATH in length. /// returns dest ///     TCHAR dest[MAX_PATH]; ///     GetThisPath(dest, MAX_PATH); TCHAR* GetThisPath(TCHAR* dest, size_t destSize); 

GetThisPath.cpp

#include <Shlwapi.h> #pragma comment(lib, "shlwapi.lib")  TCHAR* GetThisPath(TCHAR* dest, size_t destSize) {     if (!dest) return NULL;     if (MAX_PATH > destSize) return NULL;      DWORD length = GetModuleFileName( NULL, dest, destSize );     PathRemoveFileSpec(dest);     return dest; } 

mainProgram.cpp

TCHAR dest[MAX_PATH]; GetThisPath(dest, MAX_PATH); 

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Update: PathRemoveFileSpec is deprecated in Windows 8. However the replacement, PathCchRemoveFileSpec, is available in Windows 8+ only. (Thanks to @askalee for the comment)

I think this code below might work, but I'm leaving the above code up there until the below code is vetted. I don't have a compiler set up to test this at the moment. If you have a chance to test this code, please post a comment saying if this below code worked and on what operating system you tested. Thanks!

GetThisPath.h

/// dest is expected to be MAX_PATH in length. /// returns dest ///     TCHAR dest[MAX_PATH]; ///     GetThisPath(dest, MAX_PATH); TCHAR* GetThisPath(TCHAR* dest, size_t destSize); 

GetThisPath.cpp

#include <Shlwapi.h> #pragma comment(lib, "shlwapi.lib")  TCHAR* GetThisPath(TCHAR* dest, size_t destSize) {     if (!dest) return NULL;      DWORD length = GetModuleFileName( NULL, dest, destSize ); #if (NTDDI_VERSION >= NTDDI_WIN8)     PathCchRemoveFileSpec(dest, destSize); #else     if (MAX_PATH > destSize) return NULL;     PathRemoveFileSpec(dest); #endif     return dest; } 

mainProgram.cpp

TCHAR dest[MAX_PATH]; GetThisPath(dest, MAX_PATH); 

• NTDDI_WIN8 from this answer
• Thanks @Warpspace for the suggested change!