Get parent directory name in Node.js

Question

I am using Node.js, and I want to obtain the parent directory name for a file. I have the file "../test1/folder1/FolderIWant/test.txt".

I want to get "FolderIWant".

I have tried:

var path = require('path');
var parentDir = path.dirname(filename);

But it returns ../test1/folder1/FolderIWant.

Answer 1

What you want is path.basename:

path.basename(path.dirname(filename))

Answer 2

Better use @danielwolf's answer instead

---

Use split() and pop():

path.dirname(filename).split(path.sep).pop()

Answer 3

Daniel Wolf's answer is correct, also if you want the full path of the parent dir:

require('path').resolve(__dirname, '..')

Answer 4

const path = require("path")
path.dirname(path.basename(__dirname))

Answer 5

process.mainModule property is deprecated in v14.0.0. If foo.js is run by node foo.js (e.g. somedir/foo.js"),

const path = require("path");

module.exports = path.dirname(require.main.filename);

result: somedir

Use require.main instead

Answer 6

Whilst the answers herein worked somewhat, I found use of the popular app-root-path module a better anchor point from which to specify a path.

import { path as arp } from 'app-root-path'
import path from 'path'

const root = path.resolve(arp, '../') // the parent of the root path

export const rootDirname = root

Example usage as follows:

import { rootDirname } from './functions/src/utils/root-dirname'
import { getJsonFromFile } from './app/utils/get-json-from-file'

const firebaseJson = getJsonFromFile(`${rootDirname}/firebase.json`)

Maybe not the best answer here but an option not covered by other answers.

Answer 7

const path = require('path');

module.exports = path.dirname(process.mainModule.filename)

Use this anywhere to get the root directory

Answer 8

Using node as of 06-2019, I ran into an issue for accessing just filename. So instead, I just modified it a tiny bit and used:

path.dirname(__filename).split(path.sep).pop()

so now you get the directory name of the current directory you are in and not the full path. Although the previous answers seem to possibly work for others, for me it caused issues as node was looking for a const or a variable but couldn't find one.

Answer 9

Simplest way without any node modules like the path. You can easily do in the following manner to get the root folder name.

var rootFolder = __dirname.split('/').pop();
console.log(rootFolder);