Get all parent folder path from a folder path

[creedless]

Hi,

Giving a folder path like "/Documents/FolderA/FolderB/FolderC/"

I would like to get an array like this:

[

"/Documents/FolderA/FolderB/FolderC",

"/Documents/FolderA/FolderB/"

"/Documents/FolderA/"

"/Documents/"

]

I'm struggling to get this without any success.

Can you please help me...

Thanks

[Jondoesflow]

Hi @creedless 

So the really cool function you can use here is split.

I have created a flow, manual trigger and then a compose for the file structure you provided:

The folder structure as you have provided is:

/Documents/FolderA/FolderB/FolderC/

This means we can split the string at the / character.

This gives us an Array:

[

   "",

   "Documents",

   "FolderA",

   "FolderB",

   "FolderC"

}

Each of those lines above, is indexed, starting at 0, then 1 for Documents, 2 for FolderA, 3 for FolderB and 4 for FolderC.

We can then use subsequent compose steps and select the indexed point that we want.

For example in Compose Root, i have the expression:

split(outputs('Compose'),'/')[1]

This is splitting the outputs of the compose step by the / character and selecting the first item in the array, in this case Documents.

The final part is to do another compose, and connect the dots:

Here is the flow end to end:

And here is the flow when it runs:

Thanks,

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[creedless]

Thank you Jondoesflow!

I have thought on your approach, but I forgot to say, that the folder structure is not rigid. It has as many as one subfolder till a dozen one. 

So i think i need this some less "hard coded".

I guess I have to loop through all the array, and, inside it, for each item, I have to loop through all the previous items to append them.

It's kind of simple in any "scripted" language, but i don't know how to do it in power automate.

I can use you approach scaled to up 12 items, but that way I have to do some error handling, that i don't know how to do it also. 

Thank you.

[Expiscornovus · Accepted solution]

Hi @creedless,

You can use a do until for this an use take and join functions to combine the number of items.

Below is an example

The Do Until expression:

@equals(variables('Counter'), length(split(slice(variables('Path'), 1, -1), '/')))

The append to array variable expression

join(take(split(slice(variables('Path'), 1, -1), '/'), variables('Counter')), '/')

Below is the outputs of the array variable in a compose (outside the Do Until loop).

[Jondoesflow]

Wow. Constantly learning from you Denis ! 

[creedless]

You nail it!!

Many thanks.

[grantjenkins]

This is how I would go about it. Assuming the folder paths always start with / and end with / as per your example.

Compose has the folder path you want to use:

Select uses the following expressions:

//Body
range(2, sub(length(split(outputs('Compose'), '/')), 2))

//Map
slice(outputs('Compose'), 0, nthIndexOf(outputs('Compose'), '/', item()))

And the final output:

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @grantjenkins,

Nice one. Thanks for sharing, that is even a slicker approach 😀

[Jondoesflow]

Hey @grantjenkins that's a work of art !