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ParentDirectory
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ParentDirectory

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gives the parent of the current working directory.

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gives the parent of the directory dir.

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ParentDirectory["dir",n]

gives the directory n levels up from dir.

Details

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples  (3)Summary of the most common use cases

Get the parent directory of the current working directory:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-ghw2pm
Out[1]=1

Verify the answer:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-j29ncm
Out[2]=2

Get the parent of $InstallationDirectory:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-imcutg
Out[1]=1

Find the grandparent of $InstallationDirectory:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-h14u7k
Out[1]=1

Scope  (3)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Get the parent directory of the directory specified by the File object:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-bzvdwh
Out[1]=1

Go up two levels from the same location:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-c03ce0
Out[2]=2

Go up two levels from the current directory:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-fdbe54
Out[1]=1

Compare with the current directory:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-yg8yrz
Out[2]=2

Explicitly request the directory one level higher than the current directory:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-uqhpl0
Out[1]=1

This is equivalent to the following:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-078egc
Out[2]=2

Properties & Relations  (4)Properties of the function, and connections to other functions

In ParentDirectory[dir], dir must exist as a directory:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-duejxj
Out[1]=1

ParentDirectory always returns a full path:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-hoyz8d
Out[1]=1

ParentDirectory[1] is equivalent to ParentDirectory[]:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-2zs07u
Out[1]=1

ParentDirectory operates only on existing directories and returns a full path:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-rhvs0s
Out[1]=1

FileNameDrop performs a similar path operation but at a purely textual level:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/05fj3pxg82-wvjhrt
Out[2]=2
Wolfram Research (1991), ParentDirectory, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html (updated 2017).
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Wolfram Research (1991), ParentDirectory, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html (updated 2017).

Text

Wolfram Research (1991), ParentDirectory, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html (updated 2017).

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Wolfram Research (1991), ParentDirectory, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html (updated 2017).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1991. "ParentDirectory." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2017. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html.

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Wolfram Language. 1991. "ParentDirectory." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2017. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1991). ParentDirectory. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html

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Wolfram Language. (1991). ParentDirectory. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_parentdirectory, author="Wolfram Research", title="{ParentDirectory}", year="2017", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html}", note=[Accessed: 10-July-2025 ]}

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@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_parentdirectory, author="Wolfram Research", title="{ParentDirectory}", year="2017", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html}", note=[Accessed: 10-July-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_parentdirectory, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={ParentDirectory}, year={2017}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html}, note=[Accessed: 10-July-2025 ]}

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@online{reference.wolfram_2025_parentdirectory, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={ParentDirectory}, year={2017}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ParentDirectory.html}, note=[Accessed: 10-July-2025 ]}