PathParser ( thePath , returnElementPHFNE )

PathParser returns the path directory, home directory, full filename and extension, filename, or extension from a folder and/or file path string.

• Easily extract path elements from thePath.
• Preserves FileMaker Pro file reference prefixes (file:, filemac:, and filewin:).
• Omit directories forwards or backwards from thePath.
• The home or ~ (tilde) element request returns the home path – path without Get ( SystemDrive ) prepended.
• The path and filename element separation is set to the leftmost path separator in thePath.
• Works with the thePath string as passed – it does not format thePath, except to prepend a missing path separator when returning directory path or home requests.
• Use with the PathMaker custom function for added path formatting control.

Parameters

• thePath – A folder and/or file path.
• returnElementPHFNE – The element in thePath to return. Determined from the first letter of the passed parameter or the passed number:
  • p (path) – Returns the path directory, without the filename and extension.
  • h or ~ (home) – Returns the home directory path, without the system drive information.
  • f (fullfilename) – Returns just the filename and extension, without the path directory.
  • n (name) – Returns just the filename, without the path directory and without the file extension.
  • e (extension) – Returns just the file extension, without the path directory and without filename.
  • +/-# (omit directories) – Returns the directory path after omitting the specified number of directories.
    • A positive number omits directories forwards from the left of thePath.
    • A negative number omits directories backwards from the right of thePath.

Examples

• PathParser ( “file:” & Get ( DocumentsPath ) & “Untitled.pdf” , “p” ) = file:/Macintosh HD2/Users/user/Documents/
• PathParser ( Get ( DocumentsPath ) & “Untitled.pdf” , “h” ) = /Users/user/Documents/
• PathParser ( Get ( DocumentsPath ) & “Untitled.pdf” , “fullfilename” ) = Untitled.pdf
• PathParser ( Get ( DocumentsPath ) & “Untitled.pdf” , “n” ) = Untitled
• PathParser ( Get ( DocumentsPath ) & “Untitled.pdf” , “e” ) = pdf
• PathParser ( Get ( DocumentsPath ) & “Untitled.pdf” , “2” ) = /user/Documents/
• PathParser ( Get ( DocumentsPath ) & “Untitled.pdf” , “-1” ) = /Macintosh HD2/Users/user/

Help

Passing ‘?’ as the only text in returnElementPHFNE returns this help text: PathParser ( thePath , returnElementPHFNE: [p]ath, [h]ome or [~], [f]ull name and extension, [n]ame, [e]xtension), [+/-#] omit # of directories ).

PathParser code: Copy the selected code (click on Select All to highlight all the code) to the clipboard and paste it into a newly created Custom Function. Download the code in a text file from here.