Directory.SetCurrentDirectory Method
Sets the application's current working directory to the specified directory.
[Visual Basic] Public Shared Sub SetCurrentDirectory( _ ByVal path As String _ ) [C#] public static void SetCurrentDirectory( string path ); [C++] public: static void SetCurrentDirectory( String* path ); [JScript] public static function SetCurrentDirectory( path : String );
Parameters
- path
- The path to which the current working directory is set.
Exceptions
| Exception Type | Condition |
|---|---|
| IOException | An IO error occurred. |
| ArgumentException | path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars. |
| ArgumentNullException | path is a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic). |
| PathTooLongException | The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length. For example, on Windows-based platforms, paths must be less than 248 characters, and file names must be less than 260 characters. |
| SecurityException | The caller does not have the required permission to access unmanaged code. |
| FileNotFoundException | The specified path was not found. |
Remarks
When the application terminates, the working directory is restored to its original location (the directory where the process was started).
The path parameter is permitted to specify relative or absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory.
The path parameter is not case-sensitive.
The following table lists examples of other typical or related I/O tasks.
| To do this... | See the example in this topic... |
|---|---|
| Create a text file. | Writing Text to a File |
| Write to a text file. | Writing Text to a File |
| Read from a text file. | Reading Text from a File |
| Copy a directory. | Directory |
| Rename or move a directory. | Directory.Move |
| Delete a directory. | Directory.Delete |
| Create a directory. | CreateDirectory |
| Create a subdirectory. | CreateSubdirectory |
.NET Compact Framework Platform Note: The .NET Compact Framework does not support SetCurrentDirectory because current directory functionality is not used in devices running Windows CE .NET.
Requirements
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family, .NET Compact Framework, Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) Standard
.NET Framework Security:
- FileIOPermission for writing to files or directories. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess.Write
See Also
Directory Class | Directory Members | System.IO Namespace | Working with I/O | Reading Text from a File | Writing Text to a File
