file:current-dir

Returns the current working directory. - This function returns the same result as the function call file:resolve-path('.').

current-dir() ➔ xs:string

Namespace

http://expath.org/ns/file

Links to specifications

EXPath File Module

Saxon availability

Available whether or not support for XPath 3.0 is enabled. Implemented since Saxon 9.6. Requires Saxon-PE or Saxon-EE. Available for all platforms.

Notes on the Saxon implementation

The EXPath specification says that the current working directory is implementation-defined. The Saxon implementation of file:current-dir() effectively invokes file:resolve-path("."). The file:resolve-path() function relies on Java's File.getAbsolutePath(). On Unix systems, this resolves the file name against the current directory (as defined by the system property user.dir). On Windows, it is possible for a relative file name to include a drive letter, and for each drive to have a different current directory: this affects the handling of relative file names in file:resolve-path() and in other functions (such as file:exists()), but it is not reflected in the result of file:current-dir().

For convenience in testing, Saxon recognizes the Java system property expath.base.directory and uses this as the current directory if the property exists. Applications should not rely on this feature. If the Java system property expath.base.directory is not set, the standard system property user.dir is used.