## wxFileName

wxFileName encapsulates a file name. This class serves two purposes: first, it provides the functions to split the file names into components and to recombine these components in the full file name which can then be passed to the OS file functions (and wxWidgets functions wrapping them). Second, it includes the functions for working with the files itself. Note that to change the file data you should use wxFile class instead. wxFileName provides functions for working with the file attributes.

Derived from

No base class

Include files

<wx/filename.h>

Data structures

Many wxFileName methods accept the path format argument which is by `wxPATH_NATIVE` by default meaning to use the path format native for the current platform.

The path format affects the operation of wxFileName functions in several ways: first and foremost, it defines the path separator character to use, but it also affects other things such as whether the path has the drive part or not.

    enum wxPathFormat
    {
        wxPATH_NATIVE = 0,      // the path format for the current platform
        wxPATH_UNIX,
        wxPATH_BEOS = wxPATH_UNIX,
        wxPATH_MAC,
        wxPATH_DOS,
        wxPATH_WIN = wxPATH_DOS,
        wxPATH_OS2 = wxPATH_DOS,
        wxPATH_VMS,

        wxPATH_MAX // Not a valid value for specifying path format
    }

Function groups

File name format
File name construction
File tests
File name components
Operations
wxFileName::wxFileName
wxFileName::AppendDir
wxFileName::Assign
wxFileName::AssignCwd
wxFileName::AssignDir
wxFileName::AssignHomeDir
wxFileName::AssignTempFileName
wxFileName::Clear
wxFileName::ClearExt
wxFileName::CreateTempFileName
wxFileName::DirExists
wxFileName::DirName
wxFileName::FileExists
wxFileName::FileName
wxFileName::GetCwd
wxFileName::GetDirCount
wxFileName::GetDirs
wxFileName::GetExt
wxFileName::GetForbiddenChars
wxFileName::GetFormat
wxFileName::GetFullName
wxFileName::GetFullPath
wxFileName::GetHomeDir
wxFileName::GetLongPath
wxFileName::GetModificationTime
wxFileName::GetName
wxFileName::GetPath
wxFileName::GetPathSeparator
wxFileName::GetPathSeparators
wxFileName::GetPathTerminators
wxFileName::GetShortPath
wxFileName::GetTimes
wxFileName::GetVolume
wxFileName::GetVolumeSeparator
wxFileName::HasExt
wxFileName::HasName
wxFileName::HasVolume
wxFileName::InsertDir
wxFileName::IsAbsolute
wxFileName::IsCaseSensitive
wxFileName::IsOk
wxFileName::IsPathSeparator
wxFileName::IsRelative
wxFileName::IsDir
wxFileName::MacFindDefaultTypeAndCreator
wxFileName::MacRegisterDefaultTypeAndCreator
wxFileName::MacSetDefaultTypeAndCreator
wxFileName::MakeAbsolute
wxFileName::MakeRelativeTo
wxFileName::Mkdir
wxFileName::Normalize
wxFileName::PrependDir
wxFileName::RemoveDir
wxFileName::RemoveLastDir
wxFileName::Rmdir
wxFileName::SameAs
wxFileName::SetCwd
wxFileName::SetExt
wxFileName::SetEmptyExt
wxFileName::SetFullName
wxFileName::SetName
wxFileName::SetTimes
wxFileName::SetVolume
wxFileName::SplitPath
wxFileName::SplitVolume
wxFileName::Touch
wxFileName::operator=
wxFileName::operator==
wxFileName::operator!=

### File name format

wxFileName currently supports the file names in the Unix, DOS/Windows, Mac OS and VMS formats. Although these formats are quite different, wxFileName tries to treat them all in the same generic way. It supposes that all file names consist of the following parts: the volume (also known as drive under Windows or device under VMS), the path which is a sequence of directory names separated by the path separators and the full filename itself which, in turn, is composed from the base file name and the extension. All of the individual components of the file name may be empty and, for example, the volume name is always empty under Unix, but if they are all empty simultaneously, the filename object is considered to be in an invalid state and IsOk returns `false` for it.

File names can be case-sensitive or not, the function IsCaseSensitive allows to determine this.

The rules for determining if the file name is absolute or relative also depends on the file name format and the only portable way to answer to this question is to use IsAbsolute method. To ensure that the filename is absolute you may use MakeAbsolute. There is also an inverse function MakeRelativeTo which undoes what Normalize(wxPATH_NORM_DOTS) does.

Other functions returning information about the file format provided by this class are GetVolumeSeparator, IsPathSeparator.

IsRelative

### File name construction

TODO.

### File tests

Before doing the other tests you should use IsOk to verify that the filename is well defined. If it is, FileExists can be used to test if a file with such name exists and DirExists - if a directory with this name exists.

File names should be compared using SameAs method or ==.

### File name components

These functions allow to examine and modify the individual directories of the path:

AppendDir
InsertDir
GetDirCount PrependDir
RemoveDir
RemoveLastDir

To change the components of the file name individually you can use the following functions:

GetExt
GetName
GetVolume
HasExt
HasName
HasVolume
SetExt
ClearExt
SetEmptyExt
SetName
SetVolume

### Operations

These methods allow to work with the file creation, access and modification times. Note that not all filesystems under all platforms implement these times in the same way. For example, the access time under Windows has a resolution of one day (so it is really the access date and not time). The access time may be updated when the file is executed or not depending on the platform.

GetModificationTime
GetTimes
SetTimes
Touch

Other file system operations functions are:

Mkdir
Rmdir

Members

### wxFileName::wxFileName

wxFileName()

Default constructor.

wxFileName(const wxFileName& filename)

Copy constructor.

wxFileName(const wxString& fullpath, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Constructor taking a full filename. If it terminates with a '/', a directory path is constructed (the name will be empty), otherwise a file name and extension are extracted from it.

wxFileName(const wxString& path, const wxString& name, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Constructor from a directory name and a file name.

wxFileName(const wxString& path, const wxString& name, const wxString& ext, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Constructor from a directory name, base file name and extension.

wxFileName(const wxString& volume, const wxString& path, const wxString& name, const wxString& ext, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Constructor from a volume name, a directory name, base file name and extension.

### wxFileName::AppendDir

void AppendDir(const wxString& dir)

Appends a directory component to the path. This component should contain a single directory name level, i.e. not contain any path or volume separators nor should it be empty, otherwise the function does nothing (and generates an assert failure in debug build).

### wxFileName::Assign

void Assign(const wxFileName& filepath)

void Assign(const wxString& fullpath, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

void Assign(const wxString& volume, const wxString& path, const wxString& name, const wxString& ext, bool hasExt, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

void Assign(const wxString& volume, const wxString& path, const wxString& name, const wxString& ext, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

void Assign(const wxString& path, const wxString& name, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

void Assign(const wxString& path, const wxString& name, const wxString& ext, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Creates the file name from various combinations of data.

### wxFileName::AssignCwd

static void AssignCwd(const wxString& volume = wxEmptyString)

Makes this object refer to the current working directory on the specified volume (or current volume if volume is empty).

See also

GetCwd

### wxFileName::AssignDir

void AssignDir(const wxString& dir, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Sets this file name object to the given directory name. The name and extension will be empty.

### wxFileName::AssignHomeDir

void AssignHomeDir()

Sets this file name object to the home directory.

### wxFileName::AssignTempFileName

void AssignTempFileName(const wxString& prefix, wxFile *fileTemp = `NULL`)

The function calls CreateTempFileName to create a temporary file and sets this object to the name of the file. If a temporary file couldn't be created, the object is put into the invalid state.

### wxFileName::Clear

void Clear()

Reset all components to default, uninitialized state.

### wxFileName::ClearExt

void SetClearExt()

Removes the extension from the file name resulting in a file name with no trailing dot.

See also

SetExt SetEmptyExt

### wxFileName::CreateTempFileName

static wxString CreateTempFileName(const wxString& prefix, wxFile *fileTemp = `NULL`)

Returns a temporary file name starting with the given prefix. If the prefix is an absolute path, the temporary file is created in this directory, otherwise it is created in the default system directory for the temporary files or in the current directory.

If the function succeeds, the temporary file is actually created. If fileTemp is not `NULL`, this file will be opened using the name of the temporary file. When possible, this is done in an atomic way ensuring that no race condition occurs between the temporary file name generation and opening it which could often lead to security compromise on the multiuser systems. If fileTemp is `NULL`, the file is only created, but not opened.

Under Unix, the temporary file will have read and write permissions for the owner only to minimize the security problems.

Parameters

prefix

Prefix to use for the temporary file name construction

fileTemp

The file to open or `NULL` to just get the name

Return value

The full temporary file name or an empty string on error.

### wxFileName::DirExists

bool DirExists() const

static bool DirExists(const wxString& dir)

Returns `true` if the directory with this name exists.

### wxFileName::DirName

static wxFileName DirName(const wxString& dir, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the object corresponding to the directory with the given name. The dir parameter may have trailing path separator or not.

### wxFileName::FileExists

bool FileExists() const

static bool FileExists(const wxString& file)

Returns `true` if the file with this name exists.

See also

DirExists

### wxFileName::FileName

static wxFileName FileName(const wxString& file, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the file name object corresponding to the given file. This function exists mainly for symmetry with DirName.

### wxFileName::GetCwd

static wxString GetCwd(const wxString& volume = "")

Retrieves the value of the current working directory on the specified volume. If the volume is empty, the program's current working directory is returned for the current volume.

Return value

The string containing the current working directory or an empty string on error.

See also

AssignCwd

### wxFileName::GetDirCount

size_t GetDirCount() const

Returns the number of directories in the file name.

### wxFileName::GetDirs

const wxArrayString& GetDirs() const

Returns the directories in string array form.

### wxFileName::GetExt

wxString GetExt() const

Returns the file name extension.

### wxFileName::GetForbiddenChars

static wxString GetForbiddenChars(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the characters that can't be used in filenames and directory names for the specified format.

### wxFileName::GetFormat

static wxPathFormat GetFormat(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the canonical path format for this platform.

### wxFileName::GetFullName

wxString GetFullName() const

Returns the full name (including extension but excluding directories).

### wxFileName::GetFullPath

wxString GetFullPath(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE) const

Returns the full path with name and extension.

### wxFileName::GetHomeDir

static wxString GetHomeDir()

Returns the home directory.

### wxFileName::GetLongPath

wxString GetLongPath() const

Return the long form of the path (returns identity on non-Windows platforms)

### wxFileName::GetModificationTime

wxDateTime GetModificationTime() const

Returns the last time the file was last modified.

### wxFileName::GetName

wxString GetName() const

Returns the name part of the filename.

### wxFileName::GetPath

wxString GetPath(int flags = `wxPATH_GET_VOLUME`, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE) const

Returns the path part of the filename (without the name or extension). The possible flags values are:

wxPATH_GET_VOLUME | Return the path with the volume (does nothing for the filename formats without volumes), otherwise the path without volume part is returned.
wxPATH_GET_SEPARATOR | Return the path with the trailing separator, if this flag is not given there will be no separator at the end of the path.

### wxFileName::GetPathSeparator

static wxChar GetPathSeparator(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the usually used path separator for this format. For all formats but `wxPATH_DOS` there is only one path separator anyhow, but for DOS there are two of them and the native one, i.e. the backslash is returned by this method.

See also

GetPathSeparators

### wxFileName::GetPathSeparators

static wxString GetPathSeparators(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the string containing all the path separators for this format. For all formats but `wxPATH_DOS` this string contains only one character but for DOS and Windows both `'/'` and `'`\`'` may be used as separators.

See also

GetPathSeparator

### wxFileName::GetPathTerminators

static wxString GetPathTerminators(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the string of characters which may terminate the path part. This is the same as GetPathSeparators except for VMS path format where ] is used at the end of the path part.

### wxFileName::GetShortPath

wxString GetShortPath() const

Return the short form of the path (returns identity on non-Windows platforms).

### wxFileName::GetTimes

bool GetTimes(wxDateTime* dtAccess, wxDateTime* dtMod, wxDateTime* dtCreate) const

Returns the last access, last modification and creation times. The last access time is updated whenever the file is read or written (or executed in the case of Windows), last modification time is only changed when the file is written to. Finally, the creation time is indeed the time when the file was created under Windows and the inode change time under Unix (as it is impossible to retrieve the real file creation time there anyhow) which can also be changed by many operations after the file creation.

Any of the pointers may be `NULL` if the corresponding time is not needed.

Return value

`true` on success, `false` if we failed to retrieve the times.

### wxFileName::GetVolume

wxString GetVolume() const

Returns the string containing the volume for this file name, empty if it doesn't have one or if the file system doesn't support volumes at all (for example, Unix).

### wxFileName::GetVolumeSeparator

static wxString GetVolumeSeparator(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns the string separating the volume from the path for this format.

### wxFileName::HasExt

bool HasExt() const

Returns `true` if an extension is present.

### wxFileName::HasName

bool HasName() const

Returns `true` if a name is present.

### wxFileName::HasVolume

bool HasVolume() const

Returns `true` if a volume specifier is present.

### wxFileName::InsertDir

void InsertDir(size_t before, const wxString& dir)

Inserts a directory component before the zero-based position in the directory list. Please see AppendDir for important notes.

### wxFileName::IsAbsolute

bool IsAbsolute(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns `true` if this filename is absolute.

### wxFileName::IsCaseSensitive

static bool IsCaseSensitive(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns `true` if the file names of this type are case-sensitive.

### wxFileName::IsOk

bool IsOk() const

Returns `true` if the filename is valid, `false` if it is not initialized yet. The assignment functions and Clear may reset the object to the uninitialized, invalid state (the former only do it on failure).

### wxFileName::IsPathSeparator

static bool IsPathSeparator(wxChar ch, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns `true` if the char is a path separator for this format.

### wxFileName::IsRelative

bool IsRelative(wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Returns `true` if this filename is not absolute.

### wxFileName::IsDir

bool IsDir() const

Returns `true` if this object represents a directory, `false` otherwise (i.e. if it is a file). Note that this method doesn't test whether the directory or file really exists, you should use DirExists or FileExists for this.

### wxFileName::MacFindDefaultTypeAndCreator

static bool MacFindDefaultTypeAndCreator(const wxString& ext, wxUint32* type, wxUint32* creator)

On Mac OS, gets the common type and creator for the given extension.

### wxFileName::MacRegisterDefaultTypeAndCreator

static void MacRegisterDefaultTypeAndCreator(const wxString& ext, wxUint32 type, wxUint32 creator)

On Mac OS, registers application defined extensions and their default type and creator.

### wxFileName::MacSetDefaultTypeAndCreator

bool MacSetDefaultTypeAndCreator()

On Mac OS, looks up the appropriate type and creator from the registration and then sets it.

### wxFileName::MakeAbsolute

bool MakeAbsolute(const wxString& cwd = wxEmptyString, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Make the file name absolute. This is a shortcut for `Normalize(wxPATH_NORM_DOTS | wxPATH_NORM_ABSOLUTE | wxPATH_NORM_TILDE, cwd, format)`.

See also

MakeRelativeTo, Normalize, IsAbsolute

### wxFileName::MakeRelativeTo

bool MakeRelativeTo(const wxString& pathBase = wxEmptyString, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

This function tries to put this file name in a form relative to pathBase. In other words, it returns the file name which should be used to access this file if the current directory were pathBase.

pathBase

the directory to use as root, current directory is used by default

format

the file name format, native by default

Return value

`true` if the file name has been changed, `false` if we failed to do anything with it (currently this only happens if the file name is on a volume different from the volume specified by pathBase).

See also

Normalize

### wxFileName::Mkdir

bool Mkdir(int perm = 0777, int flags = 0)

static bool Mkdir(const wxString& dir, int perm = 0777, int flags = 0)

dir

the directory to create

parm

the permissions for the newly created directory

flags

if the flags contain `wxPATH_MKDIR_FULL` flag, try to create each directory in the path and also don't return an error if the target directory already exists.

Return value

Returns `true` if the directory was successfully created, `false` otherwise.

### wxFileName::Normalize

bool Normalize(int flags = wxPATH_NORM_ALL, const wxString& cwd = wxEmptyString, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Normalize the path. With the default flags value, the path will be made absolute, without any ".." and "." and all environment variables will be expanded in it.

flags

The kind of normalization to do with the file name. It can be any or-combination of the following constants:

wxPATH_NORM_ENV_VARS | replace env vars with their values
wxPATH_NORM_DOTS | squeeze all .. and . and prepend cwd
wxPATH_NORM_TILDE | Unix only: replace ~ and ~user
wxPATH_NORM_CASE | if filesystem is case insensitive, transform to tolower case
wxPATH_NORM_ABSOLUTE | make the path absolute
wxPATH_NORM_LONG | make the path the long form
wxPATH_NORM_SHORTCUT | resolve if it is a shortcut (Windows only)
wxPATH_NORM_ALL | all of previous flags except `wxPATH_NORM_CASE`

cwd

If not empty, this directory will be used instead of current working directory in normalization.

format

The file name format, native by default.

### wxFileName::PrependDir

void PrependDir(const wxString& dir)

Prepends a directory to the file path. Please see AppendDir for important notes.

### wxFileName::RemoveDir

void RemoveDir(size_t pos)

Removes the specified directory component from the path.

See also

GetDirCount

### wxFileName::RemoveLastDir

void RemoveLastDir()

Removes last directory component from the path.

### wxFileName::Rmdir

bool Rmdir()

static bool Rmdir(const wxString& dir)

Deletes the specified directory from the file system.

### wxFileName::SameAs

bool SameAs(const wxFileName& filepath, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE) const

Compares the filename using the rules of this platform.

### wxFileName::SetCwd

bool SetCwd()

static bool SetCwd(const wxString& cwd)

Changes the current working directory.

### wxFileName::SetExt

void SetExt(const wxString& ext)

Sets the extension of the file name. Setting an empty string as the extension will remove the extension resulting in a file name without a trailing dot, unlike a call to SetEmptyExt.

See also

SetEmptyExt ClearExt

### wxFileName::SetEmptyExt

void SetEmptyExt()

Sets the extension of the file name to be an empty extension. This is different from having no extension at all as the file name will have a trailing dot after a call to this method.

See also

SetExt ClearExt

### wxFileName::SetFullName

void SetFullName(const wxString& fullname)

The full name is the file name and extension (but without the path).

### wxFileName::SetName

void SetName(const wxString& name)

Sets the name.

### wxFileName::SetTimes

bool SetTimes(const wxDateTime* dtAccess, const wxDateTime* dtMod, const wxDateTime* dtCreate)

Sets the file creation and last access/modification times (any of the pointers may be NULL).

### wxFileName::SetVolume

void SetVolume(const wxString& volume)

Sets the volume specifier.

### wxFileName::SplitPath

static void SplitPath(const wxString& fullpath, wxString* volume, wxString* path, wxString* name, wxString* ext, bool *hasExt = `NULL`, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

static void SplitPath(const wxString& fullpath, wxString* volume, wxString* path, wxString* name, wxString* ext, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

static void SplitPath(const wxString& fullpath, wxString* path, wxString* name, wxString* ext, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

This function splits a full file name into components: the volume (with the first version) path (including the volume in the second version), the base name and the extension. Any of the output parameters (volume, path, name or ext) may be `NULL` if you are not interested in the value of a particular component. Also, fullpath may be empty on entry.

On return, path contains the file path (without the trailing separator), name contains the file name and ext contains the file extension without leading dot. All three of them may be empty if the corresponding component is. The old contents of the strings pointed to by these parameters will be overwritten in any case (if the pointers are not `NULL`).

Note that for a filename "foo.'' the extension is present, as indicated by the trailing dot, but empty. If you need to cope with such cases, you should use hasExt instead of relying on testing whether ext is empty or not.

### wxFileName::SplitVolume

static void SplitVolume(const wxString& fullpath, wxString* volume, wxString* path, wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE)

Splits the given fullpath into the volume part (which may be empty) and the pure path part, not containing any volume.

See also

SplitPath

### wxFileName::Touch

bool Touch()

Sets the access and modification times to the current moment.

### wxFileName::operator=

wxFileName& operator operator=(const wxFileName& filename)

wxFileName& operator operator=(const wxString& filename)

Assigns the new value to this filename object.

### wxFileName::operator==

bool operator operator==(const wxFileName& filename) const

bool operator operator==(const wxString& filename) const

Returns `true` if the filenames are equal. The string filenames is interpreted as a path in the native filename format.

### wxFileName::operator!=

bool operator operator!=(const wxFileName& filename) const

bool operator operator!=(const wxString& filename) const

Returns `true` if the filenames are different. The string filenames is interpreted as a path in the native filename format.