std::filesystem::path::parent_path

path parent_path() const;		(since C++17)

Returns the path to the parent directory. Returns empty path if empty() or there's only a single element in the path (begin() == --end().

The resulting path is constructed by appending all elements in a range [begin(), --end()) to an empty path.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

The path to the parent directory.

Exceptions

(none)

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <filesystem>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;
int main()
{
    for(fs::path p : {"/var/tmp/example.txt", "/", "/var/tmp/."})
        std::cout << "The parent path of " << p
                  << " is " << p.parent_path() << '\n';
}

Possible output:

The parent path of "/var/tmp/example.txt" is "/var/tmp"
The parent path of "/" is ""
The parent path of "/var/tmp/." is "/var/tmp"

Language
Standard library headers
Concepts
Utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Algorithms library
Iterators library
Numerics library
Input/output library
Localizations library
Regular expressions library (C++11)
Atomic operations library (C++11)
Thread support library (C++11)
Filesystem library (C++17)
Technical Specifications