C++ [Windows] Path to the folder where the executable is located

Question

I need to access some files with fstream in my C++ app on Windows. Those files are all located in subfolders of the folder where my exe file is located.

• What is the easiest and more important: safest way to get the path to the folder of the current executable?

Answer 1

Use GetModuleHandle and GetModuleFileName to find out where your exe is running from.

HMODULE hModule = GetModuleHandleW(NULL);
WCHAR path[MAX_PATH];
GetModuleFileNameW(hModule, path, MAX_PATH);

Then strip the exe name from path.

Answer 2

By default, the directory that the exe is run from should be the starting location. So opening a file in a subfolder should be as easy as

fstream infile; 
infile.open(".\\subfolder\\filename.ext");

from within your program.

However, there is no real way to GUARANTEE this will always work unless you either use a framework that wraps the needed features (I'd look at boost), or using the Windows API directly such as GetModuleFileName (as sean e suggested)