File paths in Ruby

Question

So I want to make a file path relative to the directory it is in, in Ruby.

I have a project, and I want it to be able to find the file no matter what directory the project is unzipped into. (Say the code is run on different machines, for example) I can't figure it out for the life of me.

It seems for requires that I can do this:

require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/comparison'

What can I do for a file that is in a different directory than my src folder?

Instead of listing,

file = 'C:/whole path/long/very_long/file.txt'

I'd like to say:

file = 'file.txt'

or

file = File.helpful_method + 'file.txt'

dan · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-17 00:24:17Z

10

file = File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'another_dir', 'file.txt')

Replace '..', 'another_dir' with the relative path segments that reach 'file.txt'.

answered Feb 17, 2010 at 0:24

dan

46k52 gold badges165 silver badges265 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

Alex Baranosky Over a year ago

this works well for file = ....., but it isn't parsing when I do require File.(.........)

Alex Baranosky Over a year ago

require File.join(File.dirname(____FILE____), '..', 'resources', 'date_extension.rb') is giving me the this error: no such file to load -- C:/Users/Alex and Paula/Documents/Software Projects/RubyCyrusSorterApp/specs/../resources/date_extension.rb

Wayne Conrad Over a year ago

@Alex Baronosky, is date_extension.rb in C:/Users/Alex and Paula/Documents/Software Projects/RubyCyrusSorterApp/resources?

dan Over a year ago

Try checking for the existence of the file with a line before the require but after the file = File.join... with this line: raise('file missing') unless File.exist?(file)

John Hyland · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-27 00:25:21Z

If you're running Ruby 1.9.2 or later, you can use require_relative instead:

require_relative '../somewhere/file.rb'

This doesn't solve the general problem of referring to files by their relative path, but if all you're doing is requiring the file, it should work.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

File paths in Ruby

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

Comments

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

Comments

Related