std::filesystem::path::make_preferred

From cppreference.com
< cpp‎ | filesystem‎ | path
 
 
 
 
path& make_preferred();
(since C++17)

Converts all directory separators in the generic-format view of the path to the preferred directory separator.

For example, on Windows, where \ is the preferred separator, the path foo/bar will be converted to foo\bar.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

*this

Exceptions

May throw implementation-defined exceptions.

Example

Windows can use / as a separator, but prefers \, so make_preferred converts the forward slashes to backslashes. On the other hand, POSIX does not use \ as a separator, because backslashes are valid filename characters — the Windows path on POSIX actually refers to a file with the name "a\\b\\c". For this reason the "separators" are not converted.

#include <filesystem>
#include <iostream>
 
int main()
{
    std::filesystem::path
        windows_path("a\\b\\c"),
        posix_path("a/b/c");
 
    std::cout
        << "Windows path: "
        << windows_path << " -> "
        << windows_path.make_preferred() << '\n'
        << "POSIX path: "
        << posix_path << " -> "
        << posix_path.make_preferred() << '\n';
}

Output:

// on Windows
Windows path: "a\\b\\c" -> "a\\b\\c"
POSIX path: "a/b/c" -> "a\\b\\c"
 
// on POSIX
Windows path: "a\\b\\c" -> "a\\b\\c"
POSIX path: "a/b/c" -> "a/b/c"

See also

constexpr value_type preferred_separator
[static]
alternative directory separator which may be used in addition to the portable /. On Windows, this is the backslash character \. On POSIX, this is the same forward slash / as the portable separator
(public static member constant)