In Java the calls
System.getProperty("user.dir")
and
new java.io.File(".").getAbsolutePath();
return the current working directory.
The call to
getClass().getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation().getPath();
returns the path to the JAR file containing the current class, or the CLASSPATH element (path) that yielded the current class if you’re running directly from the filesystem.
Example:
-
Your application is located at
C:\MyJar.jar
-
Open the shell (cmd.exe) and
cd
to C:\test\subdirectory. -
Start the application using the command
java -jar C:\MyJar.jar
. -
The first two calls return ‘C:\test\subdirectory’; the third call returns ‘C:\MyJar.jar’.
When running from a filesystem rather than a JAR file, the result will be the path to the root of the generated class files, for instance
c:\eclipse\workspaces\YourProject\bin\
The path does not include the package directories for the generated class files.
A complete example to get the application directory without .jar file name, or the corresponding path to the class files if running directly from the filesystem (e.g. when debugging):
String applicationDir = getClass().getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation().getPath();
if (applicationDir.endsWith(".jar"))
{
applicationDir = new File(applicationDir).getParent();
}
// else we already have the correct answer