Find the path to the executable

Question

I compile a program with Go for various platforms and run it by calling a relative path or just by its name (if it is in the PATH variable).

Is it possible to find out where the executable is?

Say, my program is called "foo(.exe)". I can run ./foo, foo (if it's in the PATH), ../../subdir/subdir/foo.

I have tried to use os.Args[0] and I guess I should check if the program name contains something different besides "foo". If yes, use filepath.Abs, if no, use (I can't find the function name, there is a function that looks through the PATH to check where the program is).

LookPath - http://golang.org/pkg/os/exec/#LookPath - may be the function you are looking for — Ekkehard.Horner, Aug 24 '12 at 13:10

iamdual · Answer 1 · 2017-03-21T17:22:17.560

48

You can use os.Executable for getting executable path on Go 1.8 or above version.

import (
    "os"
    "path"
    "log"
)

func main() {
    ex, err := os.Executable()
    if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }
    dir := path.Dir(ex)
    log.Print(dir)
}

edited Mar 21 '17 at 17:22

answered Feb 22 '17 at 16:18

iamdual

1,251
14
11

Good to know, I'll try it and remove the stuff I had before. – topskip Feb 22 '17 at 18:22
[This](http://stackoverflow.com/a/18537792/2979435) is another native solution that works for me – deFreitas May 06 '17 at 15:16

Dobrosław Żybort · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-23T08:03:36.010

46

Use package osext.

It's providing function Executable() that returns an absolute path to the current program executable. It's portable between systems.

Online documentation

package main

import (
    "github.com/kardianos/osext"
    "fmt"
)

func main() {
    filename, _ := osext.Executable()
    fmt.Println(filename)
}

edited Feb 23 '15 at 08:03

answered Feb 23 '13 at 07:27

Dobrosław Żybort

1,424
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1

It would be great if this also worked with `go run executable.go`. – Felix Rabe Oct 09 '14 at 13:41
1

You can always make request on package issue tracker: https://bitbucket.org/kardianos/osext/issues But I don't know if it will be possible. – Dobrosław Żybort Oct 27 '14 at 08:45
@DobrosławŻybort I use osext in a current project an it works fine. – topskip Feb 23 '15 at 08:31
1

[This](http://stackoverflow.com/a/18537792/2979435) is a native solution that works for me – deFreitas May 06 '17 at 15:15

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

4

This is not go-specific (unless the go "standard library" contains some function to do it), and there is no portable solution. For solutions on some common platforms, see e.g. How do I find the location of the executable in C? or Finding current executable's path without /proc/self/exe .

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

1
1

answered Aug 23 '12 at 11:09

janneb

36,249
2
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97

Find the path to the executable

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