Getting the folder name from a full filename path

Question

I would probably use something like:

string path = "C:/folder1/folder2/file.txt";
string lastFolderName = Path.GetFileName( Path.GetDirectoryName( path ) );

The inner call to GetDirectoryName will return the full path, while the outer call to GetFileName() will return the last path component - which will be the folder name.

This approach works whether or not the path actually exists. This approach, does however, rely on the path initially ending in a filename. If it's unknown whether the path ends in a filename or folder name - then it requires that you check the actual path to see if a file/folder exists at the location first. In that case, Dan Dimitru's answer may be more appropriate.

Try this:

string filename = @"C:/folder1/folder2/file.txt";
string FolderName = new DirectoryInfo(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(filename)).Name;

Simple & clean. Only uses System.IO.FileSystem - works like a charm:

string path = "C:/folder1/folder2/file.txt";
string folder = new DirectoryInfo(path).Name;

DirectoryInfo does the job to strip directory name

string my_path = @"C:\Windows\System32";
DirectoryInfo dir_info = new DirectoryInfo(my_path);
string directory = dir_info.Name;  // System32

I used this code snippet to get the directory for a path when no filename is in the path:

for example "c:\tmp\test\visual";

string dir = @"c:\tmp\test\visual";
Console.WriteLine(dir.Replace(Path.GetDirectoryName(dir) + Path.DirectorySeparatorChar, ""));

Output:

visual