Opening a file by passing in absolute file path

Question

I'm currently storing a file path for a file I would like to open and read in for my program. However when I put that path into File.OpenText it adds the path to the current directory to the file path and then I get this error:

DirectoryNotFoundException: Could not find a part of the path "/Users/km/Desktop/MP/file:/Users/km/Downloads/PT07E.obj".

The path I want is the one I am passing in, which is file:/Users/km/Downloads/PT07E.obj".

Is there a way to stop File.OpenText from adding to this path I am passing in originally?

Answer 1

You have to add a correct absolute path - that means, you forgot to define the drive (normally it's C ). So your path would have to be (I'd use backslashes):

@"C:\Users\km\Downloads\PT07E.obj"

However it's a better idea not to use an absolute path for this. I'd use the specialFolder option of c#:

Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile), "Downlads", "PT07E.obj");

And it's always a good idea to use Path.Combine , that uses the standard path splitter of the OS.

Answer 2

If you are operating with paths like file:/{absolute path} (which is actually an URI ) you may use System.Uri class.
As in this answer .

var uri = new Uri("file:/Users/km/Downloads/PT07E.obj");
using (var reader = File.OpenText(uri.AbsolutePath))
{
   ...
}