std::filesystem::canonical, std::filesystem::weakly_canonical - cppreference.com (original) (raw)

Defined in header
path canonical( const std::filesystem::path& p ); (1) (since C++17)
path canonical( const std::filesystem::path& p, std::error_code& ec ); (2) (since C++17)
path weakly_canonical( const std::filesystem::path& p ); (3) (since C++17)
path weakly_canonical( const std::filesystem::path& p, std::error_code& ec ); (4) (since C++17)

1,2) Converts path p to a canonical absolute path, i.e. an absolute path that has no dot, dot-dot elements or symbolic links in its generic format representation. If p is not an absolute path, the function behaves as if it is first made absolute by std::filesystem::absolute(p). The path p must exist.

3,4) Returns a path composed by operator/= from the result of calling canonical() with a path argument composed of the leading elements of p that exist (as determined by status(p) or status(p, ec)), if any, followed by the elements of p that do not exist. The resulting path is in normal form.

Contents

[edit] Parameters

p - a path which may be absolute or relative; for canonical it must be an existing path
ec - error code to store error status to

[edit] Return value

3,4) A normal path of the form canonical(x)/y, where x is a path composed of the longest leading sequence of elements in p that exist, and y is a path composed of the remaining trailing non-existent elements of p.

[edit] Exceptions

Any overload not marked noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails.

1,3) Throws std::filesystem::filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the first path argument and the OS error code as the error code argument.

2,4) Sets a std::error_code& parameter to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur.

[edit] Notes

The function canonical() is modeled after the POSIX realpath.

The function weakly_canonical() was introduced to simplify operational semantics of relative().

[edit] Example

Possible output:

Current path is "/tmp/a/b/c1/d" Canonical path for "../../c2/./e" is "/tmp/a/b/c2/e" Weakly canonical path for "../no-such-file" is "/tmp/a/b/c1/no-such-file" Canonical path for "../no-such-file" threw exception: filesystem error: in canonical: No such file or directory [../no-such-file] [/tmp/a/b/c1/d] Deleted 6 files or directories.

[edit] Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior
LWG 2956 C++17 canonical has a spurious base parameter removed

[edit] See also