use-fullpath

Use FullPath for Local Path Manipulation

Use this skill when reviewing or writing .NET code that manipulates local file or directory paths.

Why

Raw string paths are a common source of bugs:

• A path can be absolute or relative (c:\a\b vs .\a\b)
• A path that looks absolute can actually be relative (c:a is relative)
• Paths may contain . or .. segments that aren't resolved
• Trailing directory separators cause inconsistent comparisons (c:\a vs c:\a\)
• Path comparison must be case-insensitive on Windows and case-sensitive on Linux
• Reserved device names on Windows (CON, PRN, NUL) can cause subtle failures
• When a FileNotFoundException occurs, relative paths make debugging difficult
• A string parameter gives no signal whether a full path or a relative path is expected

The FullPath struct from Meziantou.Framework.FullPath solves these problems by guaranteeing the stored value is always a fully-resolved absolute path with normalized separators.

Installation

# .NET 10+
dotnet package add Meziantou.Framework.FullPath

# .NET 9 and earlier
dotnet add package Meziantou.Framework.FullPath

The namespace is Meziantou.Framework.

Core Patterns

Creating a FullPath

// From a string (relative paths are resolved against the current directory)
FullPath path = FullPath.FromPath("demo");

// Well-known locations
FullPath temp = FullPath.GetTempPath();
FullPath cwd  = FullPath.CurrentDirectory();
FullPath docs = FullPath.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);

Combining Paths

Use the / operator or FullPath.Combine — never string.Concat or string interpolation.

FullPath root = FullPath.FromPath("/repo");

// / operator (preferred for readability)
FullPath file = root / "src" / "Program.cs";

// Combine (useful when the number of segments is dynamic)
FullPath file2 = FullPath.Combine(root, "src", "Program.cs");

Comparing Paths

Comparisons are case-insensitive on Windows/macOS and case-sensitive on Linux by default. Navigation segments and trailing separators are already resolved, so equality just works.

// == and != use the OS-default comparison
if (pathA == pathB) { /* same file */ }

// Explicit case-sensitivity control
bool equal = pathA.Equals(pathB, ignoreCase: false);

Navigating the Path Tree

FullPath file = FullPath.FromPath("/repo/src/Program.cs");

FullPath dir       = file.Parent;              // /repo/src
string   name      = file.Name;               // Program.cs
string   nameNoExt = file.NameWithoutExtension; // Program
string   ext       = file.Extension;           // .cs

FullPath renamed = file.ChangeExtension(".vb"); // /repo/src/Program.vb

Checking Hierarchy

FullPath root = FullPath.FromPath("/repo");
FullPath file = root / "src" / "Program.cs";

bool isChild = file.IsChildOf(root); // true

Making a Relative Path

FullPath root = FullPath.FromPath("/repo");
FullPath file = root / "src" / "Program.cs";

string relative = file.MakePathRelativeTo(root); // src/Program.cs (or src\Program.cs on Windows)

Walking Up the Tree

FullPath start = FullPath.FromPath("/repo/src/deep/nested");

// Find the first ancestor (or self) matching a predicate
if (start.TryFindFirstAncestorOrSelf(
        p => File.Exists(p / ".editorconfig"), out FullPath match))
{
    // match is the closest directory containing .editorconfig
}

// Shortcut: find the Git repository root
if (start.TryFindGitRepositoryRoot(out FullPath gitRoot))
{
    // gitRoot is the closest directory containing .git
}

Interop with System.IO

FullPath has an implicit conversion to string, so it works directly with File, Directory, and most APIs that accept a string path.

FullPath config = root / "appsettings.json";

// No .Value or .ToString() needed
string json = File.ReadAllText(config);
File.WriteAllText(config, json);
Directory.CreateDirectory(config.Parent);

When you need the raw string explicitly (e.g., for logging or interpolation):

logger.LogInformation("Loading config from {Path}", config.Value);

Ensuring the Parent Directory Exists

FullPath output = root / "artifacts" / "report.html";
output.CreateParentDirectory(); // creates "artifacts" if it doesn't exist
File.WriteAllText(output, html);

JSON Serialization

FullPath has a built-in System.Text.Json converter. It serializes to a plain JSON string and deserializes back through FullPath.FromPath.

public sealed class AppSettings
{
    public FullPath OutputDirectory { get; set; }
}

// { "OutputDirectory": "C:\\repo\\output" }
var settings = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<AppSettings>(json);

Using FullPath in Method Signatures

Prefer FullPath over string in APIs that expect an absolute path. This makes intent explicit at the type level.

// ❌ Ambiguous — is this a full path or a relative fragment?
void Export(string outputPath) { }

// ✅ Clear contract — the caller must provide a resolved path
void Export(FullPath outputPath) { }

Collections and Dictionaries

Use FullPathComparer when storing paths in sets or dictionaries to get correct OS-aware equality.

var seen = new HashSet<FullPath>(); // uses default OS comparison
var map  = new Dictionary<FullPath, int>();

// Explicit comparer if needed
var caseSensitiveSet = new HashSet<FullPath>(FullPathComparer.CaseSensitive);

What to Look For in Reviews

Scope

This skill targets local file-system paths only. It does not apply to:

• URLs or URIs
• Cloud/blob storage paths
• Database connection strings
• Paths that must remain relative by design (e.g., entries inside a ZIP archive)