How to get rid of the starting slash in URI or URL?

Question

I am using

URL res = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(dictionaryPath);
String path = res.getPath();
String path2 = path.substring(1);

because the output of the method getPath() returns sth like this:

 /C:/Users/......

and I need this

 C:/Users....

I really need the below address because some external library refuses to work with the slash at the beginning or with file:/ at the beginning or anything else.

I tried pretty much all the methods in URL like toString() toExternalPath() etc. and done the same with URI and none of it returns it like I need it. (I totally don't understand, why it keeps the slash at the beginning).

It is okay to do it on my machine with just erasing the first char. But a friend tried to run it on linux and since the addresses are different there, it does not work...

What should with such problem?

Strip the first character if path contains ":", for Christ's sake... — David Jashi, Jul 05 '13 at 13:22
For Christ's sake, if you read the first three lines, you could see, that I am doing it already, but it is not helpful since - why should I repeat myself, just read the post...... — Ev0oD, Jul 05 '13 at 13:24
you are doing it unconditionally. Whether I 'm telling you to do it, only if ":" is present — David Jashi, Jul 05 '13 at 13:25
You can even go further and check for ":" especially in 3rd position. — David Jashi, Jul 05 '13 at 13:26
well you did edit the comment, the : was not there before. Such answer however is alredy below. — Ev0oD, Jul 05 '13 at 13:31
Yes. And it's mine. Just tried to show it with code, if words are not enough. — David Jashi, Jul 05 '13 at 13:33

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 19 '14 at 08:23

10

Convert the URL to a URI and use that in the File constructor:

URL res = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(dictionaryPath);
File file = new File(res.toURI());
String fileName = file.getPath();

answered Sep 19 '14 at 08:23

Sundae

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1
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27

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 05 '13 at 13:30

4

As long as UNIX paths are not supposed to contain drive letters, you may try this:

URL res = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(dictionaryPath);
String path = res.getPath();
char a_char = text.charAt(2);
if (a_char==':') path = path.substring(1);

answered Jul 05 '13 at 13:30

David Jashi

4,490
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thanks, I hope no other situation can occur with different OS. – Ev0oD Jul 05 '13 at 13:37

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 27 '20 at 17:00

2

Convert to a URI, then use Paths.get().

URL res = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(dictionaryPath);
String path = Paths.get(res.toURI()).toString();

answered Mar 27 '20 at 17:00

Toper

114
7

Path.get may be deprecated in future, may be you could still use like this: String path = Path.of(res.toURI()).toString(); – garykwwong Sep 11 '20 at 19:14
Btw, Path.of(...) is only available from Java11 – garykwwong Sep 11 '20 at 19:22

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 05 '13 at 13:21

0

You could probably just format the string once you get it.

something like this:

path2= path2[1:];

answered Jul 05 '13 at 13:21

Akshay

783
6
20

Did you read the first three lines of this post? I am using it - I can not and do not want to use it since this attitude is not working on other than windows machine. + I believe there must exist a more elegant solution than this. – Ev0oD Jul 05 '13 at 13:23

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 14 '22 at 11:35

I was searching for one-line solution, so the best what i came up with was deleting it manually like this:

String url = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(dictionaryPath).getPath().replaceFirst("/","");

In case if someone also needs to have it on different OS, you can make IF statement with

System.getProperty("os.name");

How to get rid of the starting slash in URI or URL?

5 Answers5