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ChDir statement

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Changes the current directory or folder.

Syntax

ChDir path

The required path argument is a string expression that identifies which directory or folder becomes the new default directory or folder. The path may include the drive. If no drive is specified, ChDir changes the default directory or folder on the current drive.

Remarks

The ChDir statement changes the default directory or folder but does not change the default drive. A different statement, ChDrive, changes the default drive.

ChDir "D:\TMP" ' Make "D:\TMP" the current folder. 

ChDrive "D"    ' Make "D" the current drive.

On the Power Macintosh, the default drive always changes to the drive specified in path. Full path specifications begin with the volume name, and relative paths begin with a colon (:). ChDir resolves any aliases specified in the path:

ChDir "MacDrive:Tmp" ' On the Macintosh.

Note that when making relative directory changes, different symbols are used in Microsoft Windows and on the Macintosh:

ChDir ".." ' Moves up one directory in Microsoft Windows. 
ChDir "::" ' Moves up one directory on the Macintosh.

On the Macintosh, the default drive name is "HD" and portions of the pathname are separated by colons instead of backslashes. Similarly, you would specify Macintosh folders instead of Windows. Finally, wildcard characters have no special meaning on the Macintosh and are treated simply as characters.

Example

This example uses the ChDir statement to change the current directory or folder. If the default drive is C, default drive remains C, even though the default folder changes to a folder on drive D:

' Assume "C:" is the current drive. The following statement changes 
' the default directory on drive "D:". "C:" remains the current drive. 
ChDir "D:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM"

See also

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