std::filesystem::path::lexically_normal, std::filesystem::path::lexically_relative, std::filesystem::path::lexically_proximate

 

C++

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Feature test macros (C++20)

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Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

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Strings library

Containers library

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Ranges library (C++20)

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Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Filesystem library

Classes
filesystem::path filesystem::filesystem_error filesystem::directory_entry filesystem::directory_iterator filesystem::recursive_directory_iterator      filesystem::file_status	filesystem::space_info filesystem::file_type filesystem::perms filesystem::perm_options filesystem::copy_options filesystem::directory_options filesystem::file_time_type
Functions
filesystem::absolute filesystem::canonicalfilesystem::weakly_canonical filesystem::relativefilesystem::proximate filesystem::copy filesystem::copy_file filesystem::copy_symlink filesystem::create_directory filesystem::create_directories filesystem::create_hard_link filesystem::create_symlink filesystem::create_directory_symlink filesystem::current_path	filesystem::exists filesystem::equivalent filesystem::file_size filesystem::hard_link_count filesystem::last_write_time filesystem::permissions filesystem::read_symlink filesystem::remove filesystem::remove_all filesystem::rename filesystem::resize_file filesystem::space filesystem::status filesystem::symlink_status filesystem::temp_directory_path
File types
filesystem::is_block_file filesystem::is_character_file filesystem::is_directory filesystem::is_empty filesystem::status_known	filesystem::is_fifo filesystem::is_other filesystem::is_regular_file filesystem::is_socket filesystem::is_symlink

 

std::filesystem::path

Constants
path::native_formatpath::generic_formatpath::auto_format
Member functions
path::path path::~path path::operator= path::assign path::appendpath::operator/= path::concatpath::operator+= path::clear path::make_preferred path::remove_filename path::replace_filename path::replace_extension      path::swap path::compare path::beginpath::end	path::c_strpath::nativepath::operator string_type path::stringpath::u8stringpath::u16stringpath::u32stringpath::wstring path::generic_stringpath::generic_u8stringpath::generic_u16stringpath::generic_u32stringpath::generic_wstring path::lexically_normalpath::lexically_relativepath::lexically_proximate
Path decomposition
path::root_name path::root_directory path::root_path path::relative_path path::parent_path path::filename path::stem path::extension path::empty	path::has_root_pathpath::has_root_namepath::has_root_directorypath::has_relative_pathpath::has_parent_pathpath::has_filenamepath::has_stempath::has_extension path::is_absolutepath::is_relative
Non-member functions
operator==operator!=operator<operator<=operator>operator>=operator<=> (until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(C++20)	operator/ operator<<operator>> swap(std::filesystem::path) hash_value u8path
Helper Classes
hash<std::filesystem::path>
formatter<std::filesystem::path> (C++26)

 

path lexically_normal() const;	(1)	(since C++17)
path lexically_relative(const path& base) const;	(2)	(since C++17)
path lexically_proximate(const path& base) const;	(3)	(since C++17)

1) Returns *this converted to normal form in its generic format

2) Returns *this made relative to base.

• First, if root_name() != base.root_name() is true or is_absolute() != base.is_absolute() is true or (!has_root_directory() && base.has_root_directory()) is true or any filename in relative_path() or base.relative_path() can be interpreted as a root-name, returns a default-constructed path.
• Otherwise, first determines the first mismatched element of *this and base as if by auto [a, b] = mismatch(begin(), end(), base.begin(), base.end()), then

• if a == end() and b == base.end(), returns path(".");
• otherwise, define N as the number of nonempty filename elements that are neither dot nor dot-dot in [b, base.end()), minus the number of dot-dot filename elements, If N < 0, returns a default-constructed path.
• otherwise, if N = 0 and a == end() || a->empty(), returns path(".").
• otherwise returns an object composed from

• a default-constructed path() followed by
• N applications of operator/=(path("..")), followed by
• one application of operator/= for each element in the half-open range [a, end())

3) If the value of lexically_relative(base) is not an empty path, return it. Otherwise return *this.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

1) The normal form of the path

2) The relative form of the path

3) The proximate form of the path

Exceptions

May throw implementation-defined exceptions.

Notes

These conversions are purely lexical. They do not check that the paths exist, do not follow symlinks, and do not access the filesystem at all. For symlink-following counterparts of lexically_relative and lexically_proximate, see relative and proximate.

On Windows, the returned path has backslashes (the preferred separators).

On POSIX, no filename in a relative path is acceptable as a root-name.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <filesystem>
#include <cassert>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;
 
int main()
{
    assert(fs::path("a/./b/..").lexically_normal() == "a/");
    assert(fs::path("a/.///b/../").lexically_normal() == "a/");
    assert(fs::path("/a/d").lexically_relative("/a/b/c") == "../../d");
    assert(fs::path("/a/b/c").lexically_relative("/a/d") == "../b/c");
    assert(fs::path("a/b/c").lexically_relative("a") == "b/c");
    assert(fs::path("a/b/c").lexically_relative("a/b/c/x/y") == "../..");
    assert(fs::path("a/b/c").lexically_relative("a/b/c") == ".");
    assert(fs::path("a/b").lexically_relative("c/d") == "../../a/b");
    assert(fs::path("a/b").lexically_relative("/a/b") == "");
    assert(fs::path("a/b").lexically_proximate("/a/b") == "a/b");
}

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 3070	C++17	a filename that can also be a root-name may cause surprising result	treated as error case
LWG 3096	C++17	trailing "/" and "/." are handled incorrectly	corrected

See also

relativeproximate (C++17)

composes a relative path (function)