Environment.CurrentDirectory Property (System)

.NET Framework Class Library

Environment..::.CurrentDirectory Property

Gets or sets the fully qualified path of the current working directory.

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Shared Property CurrentDirectory As String

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim value As String

value = Environment.CurrentDirectory

Environment.CurrentDirectory = value

public static string CurrentDirectory { get; set; }

Visual C++

public:
static property String^ CurrentDirectory {
    String^ get ();
    void set (String^ value);
}

JScript

public static function get CurrentDirectory () : String
public static function set CurrentDirectory (value : String)

Property Value

Type: System..::.String
A string containing a directory path.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
ArgumentException	Attempted to set to an empty string ("").
ArgumentNullException	Attempted to set to nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
IOException	An I/O error occurred.
DirectoryNotFoundException	Attempted to set a local path that cannot be found.
SecurityException	The caller does not have the appropriate permission.

Remarks

By definition, if this process starts in the root directory of a local or network drive, the value of this property is the drive name followed by a trailing slash (for example, "C:\"). If this process starts in a subdirectory, the value of this property is the drive and subdirectory path, without a trailing slash (for example, "C:\mySubDirectory").

Examples

The following code example demonstrates setting the CurrentDirectory property.

Visual Basic

' Change the directory to %WINDIR%                            
Environment.CurrentDirectory = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("windir")
Dim info As New DirectoryInfo(".")
Console.WriteLine(("Directory Info:   " + info.FullName))

        // Change the directory to %WINDIR%                            
        Environment.CurrentDirectory = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("windir");        
        DirectoryInfo info = new DirectoryInfo(".");
            lock(info)
            {      
            Console.WriteLine("Directory Info:   "+info.FullName);
            }

Visual C++

// Change the directory to %WINDIR%       
Environment::CurrentDirectory = Environment::GetEnvironmentVariable( "windir" );
DirectoryInfo^ info = gcnew DirectoryInfo( "." );
System::Threading::Monitor::Enter( info );
try
{
   Console::WriteLine( "Directory Info:   {0}", info->FullName );
}
finally
{
   System::Threading::Monitor::Exit( info );
}

.NET Framework Security

SecurityPermission
for writing to files or directories in a set operation. Associated enumeration: SecurityPermissionFlag..::.UnmanagedCode
FileIOPermission
for access to the information in the path itself in a get operation. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess..::.PathDiscovery

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

Reference

Environment Class

Environment Members

System Namespace