Run an EXE from a different directory?

Question

After a bit of googling and searching here, couldn't find the answer to this silly question!

For a structure like this...

dirZero
|---dirOne
|---|---myProgram.exe

How do I run "myProgram" if my current directory is dirZero? I.E.,

C:\dirZero> dirOne/myProgram.exe

...which obviously doesn't work. Thanks in advance.

the interesting part is that if myProgram was in dirZero and you were in dirOne, then you could do "..\myProgram.exe" and it would run the EXE in the previous directory. — EpicPandaForce, Jul 28 '14 at 8:35

Ruel · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-11 03:10:29Z

77

You should use a backslash \, instead of forward slash. /

C:\dirZero> dirOne\myProgram.exe

Or, wrap it with double quotes "

C:\dirZero> "dirOne/myProgram.exe"

answered Oct 11 '10 at 3:10

12.1k52946

6

Got it thanks. facepalm – Ben Oct 11 '10 at 3:12
2

I think you should move the second one with double quotes to the top as it is more intuitive for people who are looking for this answer. – Priya Ranjan Singh Jun 18 '15 at 15:02
Thanks for this. I wrote a Python script in Linux that contains code to call some binaries in other directories. I recently tried to run the same script in Windows and couldn't figure out why it wasn't working until I read this answer - solved my problem. +1. – rayryeng Apr 7 '17 at 3:24
Does anyone know what CWD for the program is set to in this case? Is it C:\dirZero or C:\dirZero\dirOne? – igor Jul 24 '18 at 14:33

Preet Sangha · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-11 03:09:56Z

13

Use a backslash instead

C:\dirZero> dirOne\myProgram.exe

answered Oct 11 '10 at 3:09

55.2k15115188

pumamammal · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-28 08:27:32Z

-4

probably u should just simple use

cd C:\dirZero\dirOne
C:\dirZero\dirOne> myProgram.exe

answered Jul 28 '14 at 8:27

668

4

This is not the question being asked. Read it more carefully. – rayryeng Apr 6 '17 at 5:24
And in some cases it will do different result, as working directory would be different. For example if you call npm/yarn – BotanMan Feb 7 '18 at 6:35

3 Answers 3