VBScript Current Directory (or Folder)

March 19, 2008 by leereid

Since my post on VBScript command line parameters is by far the most popular, here’s some useful script we use to get the current directory your script is running from. This is great for referencing other files.

currentDirectory = left(WScript.ScriptFullName,(Len(WScript.ScriptFullName))-(len(WScript.ScriptName)))
WScript.Echo currentDirectory

Pretty simple one to follow, it grabs the script name (with path), finds the length, grabs the script name by itself, finds the length, subtracts and you’re left with the path. Too easy, but really useful.

Edit: This post has been very popular and there have been a few alternatives provided, here are some of them:

Set oShell = CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)
Set ofso = CreateObject(”Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
oShell.CurrentDirectory = oFSO.GetParentFolderName(Wscript.ScriptFullName)
set wshell = createobject(”wscript.shell”)
wscript.echo wshell.currentdirectory
Replace(WScript.ScriptFullName,WScript.ScriptName,””)

Posted in CodeProject, VBScript, Work | 40 Comments

40 Responses

on December 1, 2008 at 11:16 pm | Reply Mr Nose

Very good, however this is more simpler:

Set oShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
Set ofso = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)

oShell.CurrentDirectory = oFSO.GetParentFolderName(Wscript.ScriptFullName)
on December 23, 2008 at 12:51 pm | Reply leereid

Yes, the GetParentFolderName method is nice, but requires the FSO object in place – take your pick.
on February 4, 2009 at 2:00 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Hi,
shall I know how to make use of VBScript to get the HOME Directory

It means if I made a connection to one network,it creates some Files and Folders in MY HOME Directory

NOW I want a VBScript code to check whether these Files and Folders are Created or not

can any one help PLZ
on February 5, 2009 at 8:23 am | Reply leereid

You’ll want to use something like

oFSO.FolderExists(“c:\Folder”)
or
oFSO.FileExists(“C:\Folder\file.txt”)

Try searching for FolderExists and FileExists VBscript
on February 5, 2009 at 1:42 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

HI Leereid,
Thanks for the reply but I have one issue here ie.,
What u said is for correct for searching the folders and files

But what I want to know is to know the HOME directory for the System and and send that HOME Directory to QTP(TESTING TOOL)

Here is the brief description about that

Actually there may be many users for the single system right?
Now MY Question is how to know in which users we had login into the
system.
I want to know that by using VBScript

WAITING FOR THE REPLY
YOUR’S FRIEND
on February 5, 2009 at 1:49 pm | Reply leereid

Ok, a couple of things to look at:

To get the current home directory, try using environment variables.

You can get these through vbscript like:

objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%systemdrive%”)

You can also look at all the environment variables by running a command prompt and typing “set”.

I believe the ones you want will be:
USERNAME and USERPROFILE. These will give you information on the current logged in user.

If you look in the folder at the start of USERPROFILE (usually c:\Documents and Settings in XP), there will be folders in here for all the users who have logged in.

Hope this helps.
on February 9, 2009 at 7:59 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

HI,

How,to get the HOMEDIRECORY by using VBScript

For ex. say there are 3 users named siva,daya,and ramu who can login to the system.suppose the 3 users are there in c:\Documents and settings\

Now let us assume that I had loginto the system by using ramu(USER)

Now I want the VBScript code to get the output as C:\Documents and settings\ramu

can anyone help plz,it’s urgent
on February 10, 2009 at 8:07 am | Reply leereid

Set objShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
profile_path = objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”)
on February 10, 2009 at 3:30 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

THANKS

Can u help ME in one more issue here
BY Using VBScript,how to open any Applicatio
For EX:I AM having one WINSCP(to copy files from one system to other)
NOW I have to open that WINSCP by using vbscript
can u help plz
Also where can we find these VBScript commands.can u tell ME the url
on February 10, 2009 at 3:43 pm | Reply leereid

You can do that through something like:

strCMD = “notepad.exe”
objShell.Run(strCMD,0,True)

And this will run the command “notepad.exe”

Google objShell.Run for more info

You can also use something like:

Set objFSO = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
objFSO.CopyFile “c:\sourcefolder\anyfile.html”, “c:\destfolder\”

to do file copying with VBScript
on February 10, 2009 at 3:54 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Set objFSO = CreateObject(”Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
objFSO.CopyFile “c:\sourcefolder\anyfile.html”, “c:\destfolder\”

This will copy to the same m/c,but I want to copy that to different system
Is there any command for copying files from one m/c to another m/c
on February 10, 2009 at 3:56 pm | Reply leereid

Of course, just substitute the other machine, so it might be:

objFSO.CopyFile “c:\sourcefolder\anyfile.html”, “\\OtherMachine\Files\destfolder”

You could also use robocopy (I’ve done some posts on this)
on February 10, 2009 at 4:09 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Othermachine means it’s ipaddress onlr right?
by using this can we copy files from windows to linux m/c
on February 11, 2009 at 7:41 am | Reply leereid

I’m not familiar with winscp, but Othermachine could be a name or an IP address. From what I can tell about winscp you could use either I suppose.
on February 13, 2009 at 3:34 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Hi,
do u have any idea about QTP(Testing Tool)
on February 13, 2009 at 3:35 pm | Reply leereid

No, sorry
on February 13, 2009 at 7:01 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Hi,
can u show ME how to delete a particular file in vbscript
on February 16, 2009 at 9:13 am | Reply leereid

Sure, I’ve created a new post, take a look.
on February 16, 2009 at 1:16 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Where can I check that new post
on February 16, 2009 at 1:18 pm | Reply leereid

http://leereid.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/vbscript-delete-a-file/

or just visit

http://leereid.wordpress.com/
on February 17, 2009 at 1:50 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Hi,
Is there any way to delete a file
ie.,if the file is exists then it should be deleted otherwise it should continue with the next step
It should not show any error if the file is not there..

Is there any way to achieve this
plz it’s urgent……..
on February 17, 2009 at 2:14 pm | Reply leereid

If objFSO.FileExists(“c:\temp\temp.txt”) Then

Or alternatively you can use On Error Resume Next which will continue the script if errors occur. Personally, I’d use the first option
on February 20, 2009 at 10:45 am | Reply Simon

I must thank you for your helpful blog.
A quick search via google led me to your vbscript commandline example, something far easier to achieve in comparison to Microsofts VBscript reference material.

Also I commend you for your assistance and patience extended to “REDDY SIVA SARAN”

You are a true net citizen!

Simon.
on February 23, 2009 at 9:57 am | Reply Lee

No problem. Of course I’ll listen to requests.
on February 27, 2009 at 5:43 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

Hi,
can I know how to do this task in VBSCRIPT
Opening two files and comparing some test which is in one of those files

ie.,say abc and xyz files
opening the abc and xyz files
Now comparing the test which is in abc but not in xyz file

How to do this VBSCRIPT
can u tell plz
it’s urgent
on March 2, 2009 at 8:31 am | Reply leereid

There’s some information in this post – http://leereid.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/vbscript-edit-line-in-file/, try that out
on March 2, 2009 at 5:33 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

hi,
is there any way to check whether any gif file is there or not in vbscript
on March 2, 2009 at 8:16 pm | Reply REDDY SIVA SARAN

hi,
can u tell plz how to check for a file in Temporay internet Files folder by using the VBScript

ie., The Temporay internet files folder will be in /localsettings/temporary internet files

Now by using the vbscript,how to check for a file in temporary internet files folder

plz can u help in this it’s urgent
on March 3, 2009 at 12:39 pm | Reply leereid

I’ve given you most of the tools to do these tasks:

A few ways to check if a file is a certain type are:
- Look for “.gif” in the file name
- Use split and check if the last item is gif
- Use right and check if the last 4 characters are .gif

To look for a file in the temporary internet files folder, first I’m not sure why you’d need/want to, but you know how to get to the folder and how to check if a file exists
on May 1, 2009 at 8:03 am | Reply Shawn

This will return the directory the script is located in, which is very useful, but that’s not always the “current directory”. I sometimes call scripts from within other scripts, and this can cause the current directory to be a different location. I’ve borrowed your technique, along with Mr Nose’s (when I have an FSO handy), to help me in those situations. But sometimes you need to know what the actual current working directory is.
The currentdirectory property of a wscript.shell object is better for returning that.

set wshell = createobject(“wscript.shell”)
wscript.echo wshell.currentdirectory

This little bit of code will return a different result depending on where the script is being called from, rather than where it is located. (Useful, fe, when trying to track down log files you are expecting to be created in the directory of the script.)
on May 1, 2009 at 9:20 am | Reply leereid

Wshell.currentdirectory is very handy too. There’s an article on Hey Scripting Guy about current directory which might help others: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/qanda/aug04/hey0823.mspx
on May 24, 2009 at 1:15 pm | Reply tolsen64

This might be a little simpler…

Replace(WScript.ScriptFullName,WScript.ScriptName,”")
on June 4, 2009 at 5:47 am | Reply Jonathan

Im new to this so if I do this wrong i apologize….I have a question. I need a vbscript that can detect whether a file exists in a given directory. The directory I need to monitor is:

C:\PROGRAM FILES\VERITAS\NBSCRIPTS\3DR_LOGS

each day files are written to this directory, but I need to know if a file that begins with NB0001 is created in that directory…is that simple code? As you can see i have no VB background just searching the net for possible solutions – Thx for your time.
- on June 4, 2009 at 9:27 am | Reply leereid
  
  Welcome to VBScript! Absolutely you can use VBScript to do this. I’ll outline how you can do it:
  
  - Create a folder object
  - Specify your folder
  - Get every file in the folder
  - Check it
  
  Here’s some code, put it into a file called “something.vbs”
  
  Set objFSO = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
  Set folder = objFSO.GetFolder(“C:\PROGRAM FILES\VERITAS\NBSCRIPTS\3DR_LOGS”)
  Set files = folder.Files
  
  For each file In files
  WScript.Echo file.name
  If Left(file.Name,6) = “NB0001″ Then
  ‘Do Something
  End If
  Next
on July 7, 2009 at 7:34 pm | Reply Reddy Siva Saran

Hi,
Can I know how to write a vbscript for searching a string in a file

Also that file name changes from time to time as the file name starts as SSLVPN-Logs-54541 followed by some number

Can u tell me how to do this
- on July 8, 2009 at 9:27 am | Reply leereid
  
  If you look at the comment above, it shows how to do the second part of your question, just change
  
  If Left(file.Name,6) = “NB0001″ Then
  
  to
  
  myString = “SSLVPN-Logs-54541″
  If Left(file.Name,Len(myString)) = myString Then
  
  In the ‘Do Something part then you can get the file contents and use InStr or similar to look for your string.
on July 15, 2009 at 7:49 pm | Reply Reddy Siva Saran

Hi,

Can I get the vbscript for knowing the processes running in the system tray

I mean in windows there will be system tray right?
Now I want to know how to develop the script to know the particular process is running in the system tray or not
on July 16, 2009 at 11:21 am | Reply leereid

Try here: http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vbscript/wmi_process.htm

Or you could google it
on September 22, 2009 at 9:51 am | Reply Stephen

Hey guys, I’m trying to figure out how to run a script to install something without hardcoding a path. I have it working EXCEPT when the working directory has a space in it. Can anyone give me some vbscript code on running something in a working directory with spaces?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I usually complete things on my own but this one has gotten the better of me.

Thanks!
Stephen
on September 22, 2009 at 12:45 pm | Reply leereid

Sure, what I do for this is first, declare a variable:

Quotes = Chr(34)

Then do something like

filename = Quotes & “c:\temp\myfile.msi” & Quotes

You don’t need to declare the variable, but I do for neatness.