How To Get The Root Directory Of an Elixir Project

Question

In an Elixir project, you can use

Path.expand

to define a file or directory as a relative path from the current file.

For example: Path.expand("../../../lib/file.ex")

but how about finding a path from the root level of the project?

Some others visiting here might find the following useful: :code.priv_dir or :code.lib_dir. — Grkxbvn
– Grkxbvn, Commented Jan 19, 2023 at 12:43

tres · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-28 00:07:51Z

32

If you'd like to get the project's root directory, use

File.cwd!

source: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elixir-lang-talk/Ls0eJDdMMW8

(note: I pulled this here only so it's not buried in a dead forum behind Google auth wall & subject to Google data preservation policies)

answered Aug 28, 2017 at 0:07

tres

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4 Comments

Motine Over a year ago

Actually, cwd this is not the project's root directory. This is the current working directory (which might be different)

nico Over a year ago

@Motine did you read the forum discussion? Jose states, "if the project is being compiled with Mix, "File.cwd!" will always point to the root directory because Mix always runs from root."

Motine Over a year ago

Yep. But I actually did not use mix.

Ashton Wiersdorf Over a year ago

I'm working on an umbrella project. I'm using a module from another app in the umbrella; a call to File.cwd! in the dependency app returns the root of the running app, not the root of the dependency app.

Istopopoki · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-25 15:22:38Z

5

In case of an umbrella app, you can create a key in your config.exs file :

config :some_app,
  project_root: File.cwd!

And then use that value from wherever you want in your project :

project_root = Application.fetch_env!(:some_app, :project_root)

edited Mar 25, 2024 at 15:22

answered Sep 28, 2021 at 13:48

Istopopoki

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