How to get absolute path of directory of a file?

Question

How can I get an absolute path of a directory containing a file specified:

// current dir is "/home/me/dev"
File file = new File("./target/test.txt");
assert absolute(file).equals("/home/me/dev/target");

It's Java 6.

Answer 1

You mean the methods in the documentation ?

File file = new File("./target/test.txt");
String dirPath = file.getAbsoluteFile().getParentFile().getAbsolutePath()
assert dirPath.equals("/home/me/dev/target");

Answer 2

assert file.getParentFile().getAbsolutePath().equals("/home/me/dev/target");