Directory.GetParent Method (String)

.NET Framework (current version)

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Retrieves the parent directory of the specified path, including both absolute and relative paths.

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

Syntax

C++

Public Shared Function GetParent (
	path As String
) As DirectoryInfo

Parameters

path: Type: System.String
The path for which to retrieve the parent directory.

Return Value

Type: System.IO.DirectoryInfo

The parent directory, or null if path is the root directory, including the root of a UNC server or share name.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
IOException	The directory specified by path is read-only.
UnauthorizedAccessException	The caller does not have the required permission.
ArgumentException	path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters. You can query for invalid characters with the GetInvalidPathChars method.
ArgumentNullException	path is null.
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.
DirectoryNotFoundException	The specified path was not found.

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.

Trailing spaces are removed from the end of the path parameter before getting the directory.

The string returned by this method consists of all characters in the path up to, but not including, the last DirectorySeparatorChar or AltDirectorySeparatorChar. For example, passing the path "C:\Directory\SubDirectory\test.txt" to GetParent returns "C:\Directory\SubDirectory". Passing "C:\Directory\SubDirectory" returns "C:\Directory". However, passing "C:\Directory\SubDirectory\" returns "C:\Directory\SubDirectory", because the ending directory separator is after "SubDirectory".

The path parameter is not case-sensitive.

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I-O Tasks.

Examples

The following example demonstrates how to use the GetParent method to retrieve the parent directory of a user-specified location, "path". The value returned by the GetParent method is then printed to the console. The example is configured to catch all errors common to this method.

C++

Option Explicit On 
Option Strict On

Imports System

Namespace GetFileSystemEntries
    Class Class1
        Overloads Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
            Dim snippets As New Class1()
            Dim path As String = System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()
            Dim filter As String = "*.exe"
            snippets.PrintFileSystemEntries(path)
            snippets.PrintFileSystemEntries(path, filter)
            snippets.GetLogicalDrives()
            snippets.GetParent(path)
            snippets.Move("C:\proof", "C:\Temp")
        End Sub 'Main

        Sub PrintFileSystemEntries(ByVal path As String)
            Try
                ' Obtain the file system entries in the directory path.
                Dim directoryEntries As String()
                directoryEntries = System.IO.Directory.GetFileSystemEntries(path)
                Dim str As String
                For Each str In directoryEntries
                    System.Console.WriteLine(str)
                Next str
            Catch exp As ArgumentNullException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is a null reference.")
            Catch exp As System.Security.SecurityException
                System.Console.WriteLine("The caller does not have the " + _
                                        "required permission.")
            Catch exp As ArgumentException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is an empty string, " + _
                                        "contains only white spaces, " + _
                                        "or contains invalid characters.")
            Catch exp As System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException
                System.Console.WriteLine("The path encapsulated in the " + _
                                        "Directory object does not exist.")
            End Try
        End Sub
        Sub PrintFileSystemEntries(ByVal path As String, _
                                   ByVal pattern As String)
            Try
                ' Obtain the file system entries in the directory
                ' path that match the pattern.
                Dim directoryEntries As String()
                directoryEntries = _
                   System.IO.Directory.GetFileSystemEntries(path, pattern)

                Dim str As String
                For Each str In directoryEntries
                    System.Console.WriteLine(str)
                Next str
            Catch exp As ArgumentNullException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is a null reference.")
            Catch exp As System.Security.SecurityException
                System.Console.WriteLine("The caller does not have the " + _
                                        "required permission.")
            Catch exp As ArgumentException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is an empty string, " + _
                                        "contains only white spaces, " + _
                                        "or contains invalid characters.")
            Catch exp As System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException
                System.Console.WriteLine("The path encapsulated in the " + _
                                        "Directory object does not exist.")
            End Try
        End Sub

        ' Print out all logical drives on the system.
        Sub GetLogicalDrives()
            Try
                Dim drives As String()
                drives = System.IO.Directory.GetLogicalDrives()

                Dim str As String
                For Each str In drives
                    System.Console.WriteLine(str)
                Next str
            Catch exp As System.IO.IOException
                System.Console.WriteLine("An I/O error occurs.")
            Catch exp As System.Security.SecurityException
                System.Console.WriteLine("The caller does not have the " + _
                                           "required permission.")
            End Try
        End Sub
        Sub GetParent(ByVal path As String)
            Try
                Dim directoryInfo As System.IO.DirectoryInfo
                directoryInfo = System.IO.Directory.GetParent(path)
                System.Console.WriteLine(directoryInfo.FullName)
            Catch exp As ArgumentNullException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is a null reference.")
            Catch exp As ArgumentException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is an empty string, " + _
                                     "contains only white spaces, or " + _
                                     "contains invalid characters.")
            End Try
        End Sub
        Sub Move(ByVal sourcePath As String, ByVal destinationPath As String)
            Try
                System.IO.Directory.Move(sourcePath, destinationPath)
                System.Console.WriteLine("The directory move is complete.")
            Catch exp As ArgumentNullException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is a null reference.")
            Catch exp As System.Security.SecurityException
                System.Console.WriteLine("The caller does not have the " + _
                                           "required permission.")
            Catch exp As ArgumentException
                System.Console.WriteLine("Path is an empty string, " + _
                                        "contains only white spaces, " + _
                                        "or contains invalid characters.")
            Catch exp As System.IO.IOException
                System.Console.WriteLine("An attempt was made to move a " + _
                                        "directory to a different " + _
                                        "volume, or destDirName " + _
                                        "already exists.")
            End Try
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace