How to go back 1 folder level with __dirname?

Question

I am using gulp-karma and facing a simple problem but cannot seems to find what i am doing wrong .

gulp.task('test', function (done) {
    karma.start({
        configFile: __dirname + '..\\test\\' +'\karma.conf.js',
        singleRun: true
    }, done);
});

Here is the code i am using and i cannot seems to go 1 level back in the folder directory . When i do the above it just append the ..\ to the folder direcotry without going 1 level back (which is the usual use of ..\). Following is the folder structure .

parent|
      test|karma.conf.js
      webapirole|gulpfile.js

and my folder is inside the webapirole folder . i want to go back 1 folder back and go inisde the test folder which contains the karma.conf.js file. can anyone make me understand what i am doing wrong here ?

error i am getting

[18:06:32] Starting 'tdd'...
ERROR [config]: File C:\Users\Documents\WebApiRole..\test\karma.conf.js does not exist

Forename

possible duplicate of How do i go to parent directory when using __dirname? – Forename

Answer 1

TL;DR

Use path.join(__dirname, '..', 'test', 'karma.conf.js'). Prevent use of slashes.

Long Answer

As a lot of answers have pointed out, using path module is probably the best way. However, most of the solutions here have gone back to using slashes like:

path.join(__dirname+'../test/karma.conf.js')

However, by doing this, you're beating the purpose of using path. One uses path to do operations irrespective of the underlying OS (Linux, Windows etc). Just to give a bit of insight, you can do the path operations directly as string operations (like __dirname + '../test/karma.conf.js'. You do not do this because Linux uses forward slashes ( / ), Windows uses backward slashes ( \ ). This makes your application prone to errors when you port it across operating systems.

Thus, the better way would be:

path.join(__dirname, '..', 'test', 'karma.conf.js')

And of course, coming back - prevent use of slashes in your path.join, instead spread out your params.

Libya

The design of path.join is quite intuitive, solving various cross-platform slash problems, and should be done so. – Among

I had a server folder and a client folder, I was trying to have my express serve the static files and sendFile the index html from the dist folder in my client folder. Every other solution with __dirname didn't work for me except yours. Thank you. – Letrice

Answer 2

I am using (path) NPM for the above usage......

simply require path npm in js file.Then use

let reqPath = path.join(__dirname, '../../../');//It goes three folders or directories back from given __dirname.

Tillion

using slashes with the path module, defeats the purpose of using path. please see @Pranav Totla's answer below https://mcmap.net/q/193395/-how-to-go-back-1-folder-level-with-__dirname – Salmons

Answer 3

__dirname is just a string. you can use ../ to traverse up the folder structure and path.join to resolve the path

path = require('path')

configFile: path.join(__dirname, '../test/karma.conf.js'),

Potential

Answer 4

You can use Path like this

const path = require('path'); 
path.join(__dirname, "../");

Chamber

Answer 5

if you are sending the path as a string,

configFile: path.join(__dirname+'../test/karma.conf.js'),

this doesn't work.

Instead you have to use a comma, (the plus sign concatenates the two strings)

configFile: path.join(__dirname, '../test/karma.conf.js'),

Sammysamoan

Answer 6

Like Pranav Totla said, hardcode the path with forward slashes ( "/" ) or backward slashes ( "\" ) makes the application prone to errors when it came across different operating systems.

Use the built in "path" module to prevent errors.

// Import "path"
const path = require('path');

// To go down on the three from index.html:
path.join(__dirname, 'css', 'style.css')

// To go up on the three from style.css:
path.join(__dirname, '..', 'img', 'cat.jpg')

// Three
root/
| |_css/
| |_img/
|
|_index.html

Ossiferous

Answer 7

from Root directory

(path.join(__dirname , 'views' ,'main.html')) -> will return Root:/views/main.html

from any sub-folder of Root

(path.join(__dirname , '../views/main.html')) -> same as above

Poppas

Answer 8

we can use path module to go back one level from the current directory

Example:

path.join(__dirname, '..', 'test', 'conf.js')

__dirname -- present directory
..        -- one level
test      -- folder name
config.js -- file (test folder inside)

Marseilles

Answer 9

Try putting a \\ before the ..\\.

Without it, the path your generating has a folder called WebApi... as part of it. You can see this in the path being output from the error message.

Like this:

gulp.task('test', function (done) { 
  karma.start({ configFile: __dirname + '\\..\\test\\' +'\karma.conf.js', singleRun: true }, done); 
});

You may also want to look into using the path library from npm. It makes combining paths a lot easier by handling adding and removing extra path separator characters as needed.

Scissile

thank you for your response . however it didn't work out . this is the output i am getting for that ERROR [config]: File C:\Users\Documents\WebApiRole\..\test\karma.conf.js does not exist! as you can see it still considers ..\ as part of the path string – Forename

Answer 10

Here is all you need to know about relative file paths:

Starting with / returns to the root directory and starts there

Starting with ../ moves one directory backward and starts there

Starting with ../../ moves two directories backward and starts there (and so on...)

To move forward, just start with the first sub directory and keep moving forward.

Gouty

Answer 11

this will move you 2 directory back irrespective of any operating system:

import { join, sep } from 'path';
join(__dirname, sep, "..", sep, "..");

Dare