FileGetAttrib("C:") returns surprising result

[mrider]

Greetings:

I searched forum and didn't find this - however I'm willing to concede that this is probably a "you didn't search well enough" problem.

The following code shows a different answer for "C:" than "C:" (see image at bottom of page):

MsgBox(0, "Attribs", FileGetAttrib("C:") & @LF & FileGetAttrib("C:\"))

However, the following C code does not:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <Windows.h>

void print_attributes(const char * file) {
    DWORD attribs = GetFileAttributes(file);
    if(attribs == INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES) {
        printf("%s did not return valid attributes\n", file);
    } else {
        printf("%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c\n",
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY)   ? 'R' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE)    ? 'A' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM)     ? 'S' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN)     ? 'H' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL)     ? 'N' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)  ? 'D' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_OFFLINE)    ? 'O' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_COMPRESSED) ? 'C' : ' ',
            (attribs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY)  ? 'T' : ' '
        );
    }
}

int main(void) {
    print_attributes("C:");
    print_attributes("C:\\");
    return 0;
}

So what gives?

(BTW, Windows XP 32 bit, SP3, pretty much all latest patches and hotfixes...)

(BTW2, the C code shows S, H, and D for both)

Edited September 26, 2013 by mrider

[BrewManNH]

C: is the root of drive C:, whereas C: is the current directory the working directory is currently set to.

MsgBox(0, "Attribs", FileGetAttrib("C:") & @LF & FileGetAttrib("C:\") & @LF & FileGetAttrib(@WorkingDir))

[mrider]

I only actually rely in the "D", so my code works and this doesn't cause me any problems whatsoever.  But I guess what I found surprising is that AutoIt and the Windows API return different things.  I would have expected AutoIt to use the Windows API.

However, looking more closely at the API for GetFileAttributes, I see that the minimum client is Windows XP.  So presumably AutoIt uses an older API that I don't know about (I almost never write C in Windows...).

 

 

C: is the root of drive C:, whereas C: is the current directory the working directory is currently set to.

 

That makes sense in light of the fact that the AutoIt developers are probably using a different API call than I am. 

Edited September 26, 2013 by mrider

[BrewManNH]

When I ran your C code from the first post I get this as the output.

 

    D

  SH D

They both give the same results on my Win7 x64 machine.

[mrider]

Well then - curiouser and curiouser.  Thanks for trying it.

[isosmart]

Thanks I will try it later. You are the boss

[Richard Robertson]

Where are you running your C compiled executable from? The working directory will make a difference.

[mrider]

 

Where are you running your C compiled executable from? The working directory will make a difference.

I don't understand that, considering that I have "C:" and "C:" hard-coded.  However, I'm certainly willing to throw it into a few different directories to see what happens...

As I say, this isn't a problem for me.  Just something that I found surprising.

[wraithdu]

Since 'C:' refers to the current working directory, it doesn't matter that it's hard coded. So if you run the example from the root of drive C:, in that case C: and C: are equivalent. But if you run it anywhere else, you should see the difference.