Get current folder name by a DOS command?

Question

Is it possible to get the current folder name (not current directory path) by using a DOS command? If so, how?

The closest I got was this but it doesn't do it:

for /f "delims=\" %%a in ("%CD%") do set CURR=%%a
echo.DIR: %CURR%

note: the above attempt was me attempting to tokenize the string and get the last token set as the CURR variable.

Answer 1

Shortest way I have found:

for %I in (.) do echo %~nxI

or within a .bat script:

for %%I in (.) do echo %%~nxI

or in .bat with Get value in variable.

for %%I in (.) do set CurrDirName=%%~nxI
echo %CurrDirName%

Explanation: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ntfor.php

nx means file name and extension only

Answer 2

If you want to know the current location of the batch file (and if your Windows isn't a very ancient release), type for /? in a 'DOS box' window. Scroll down. Read.

You'll find out, that you can now read (from within the batch file) these variables:

%0      - as the name how this batchfile was called
%~d0    - as the drive letter where this batchfile is located ('\\' in case of share)
%~p0    - as path (without the drive letter) where this batchfile is located
%~n0    - as filename (without suffix) of this batchfile
%~x0    - as filename's suffix (without filename) of this batchfile
%~a0    - as this batchfile's file attributes
%~t0    - as this batchfile's date+time
%~z0    - as this batchfile's filesize
%~dpnx0 - as this batchfile's fully qualified path+filename
[... and then some more ...]

This works for many cases. Assume, the batchfile is called mytest.bat. You may call it in different ways:

1. ..\..\to\mytest.bat ............................... (relative path)
2. d:\path\to\mytest.bat ........................... (full path)
3. \\fileserver\sharename\mytest.bat ... (path on remote share)

...and you'll always get the right value in your variables.

Answer 3

I personally liked Toms answer, until it struggled with dots in dir names. This gave me a hint:

for /f "delims=\" %%a in ("%cd%") do echo topmost dir: %%~nxa

Answer 4

Tom's answer is good, but if you have a directory name with a period in it (i.e. wxwidgets-2.9.4) you'll only get the full name. So this would output wxwidgets-2.9 instead because the .4 has been treated as an extension (Yes, even though it's a directory name!).

To get the full output name you have to add on the extension to the end:

FOR %I IN (.) DO Echo %~nI%~xI

and in batch file mode:

FOR %%I IN (.) DO Echo %%~nI%%~xI

Or of course, set a variable in the batch file instead:

FOR %%I IN (.) DO SET CurrentD=%%~nI%%~xI

Answer 5

An other way is:

set "MyPath=%~dpnx0" & call set "MyPath=%%MyPath:\%~nx0=%%" 
echo MyPath=%MyPath%  

it works with "." and spaces in pathname

What does it do?

1. put the whole filename (driveletter-path-filename-extension) into MyPath Var

2. remove filename and extension from MyPath var

It also works with UNC Paths. If you need the Backslash on the end of the Path. Remove the \ after MyPath in the second set command, eg.

set "MyPath=%%MyPath:%~nx0=%%"

Answer 6

You can get the current dir into a variable. One-liner:

set a=%cd%

Check with

echo %a%

Answer 7

just simple

for %%d in ("%CD%") do echo %%~nxd

or

set "sPath=."
for %%d in ("%sPath%") do set "sDirName=%%~nxd"

Be careful of the backslash of the end of path, it has not to be backslash of the end.

Answer 8

My answer in this thread does it in 3 simple lines:

@echo off
SET "CDIR=%~dp0"
:: for loop requires removing trailing backslash from %~dp0 output
SET "CDIR=%CDIR:~0,-1%"
FOR %%i IN ("%CDIR%") DO SET "PARENTFOLDERNAME=%%~nxi"
ECHO Parent folder: %PARENTFOLDERNAME%
ECHO Full path: %~dp0
pause>nul

Answer 9

This works for me from a batch file. It returns the current working directory name.

pushd %1 & for %%i in (.) do @echo %%~ni