How can you use Path.Combine() and Path.GetExtension() when working with file paths?

Question

ICSM Computer · Answer

Great question! Here's how you use Path.Combine() and Path.GetExtension() in C# when working with file paths:
1. Path.Combine()
Purpose:
Safely join multiple parts of a path into one correctly formatted path, handling directory separators automatically (so you don’t need to worry about trailing slashes or extra separators).
Example:
using System.IO;
string folder = @"C:\Users\Alice\Documents";
string filename = "report.pdf";
string fullPath = Path.Combine(folder, filename);
// Result: C:\Users\Alice\Documents\report.pdf
You can combine multiple parts:
string subfolder = "2025";
string fullPath = Path.Combine(folder, subfolder, filename);
// Result: C:\Users\Alice\Documents\2025\report.pdf
2. Path.GetExtension()
Purpose:
Retrieve the file extension (including the dot) from a file path or file name.
Example:
string filePath = @"C:\Users\Alice\Documents\report.pdf";
string extension = Path.GetExtension(filePath);
// Result: ".pdf"
If the file has no extension:
string filePath = @"C:\Users\Alice\Documents\README";
string extension = Path.GetExtension(filePath);
// Result: "" (empty string)
Combined Usage Example:
string baseDir = @"C:\Files";
string subDir = "images";
string filename = "photo.jpg";
string path = Path.Combine(baseDir, subDir, filename);
string ext = Path.GetExtension(path); // ".jpg"
Summary
Method
Purpose
Returns
Path.Combine()
Join multiple path segments
Combined full path string
Path.GetExtension()
Extract file extension from a path
File extension including . or empty string
and

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How can you use Path.Combine() and Path.GetExtension() when working with file paths?

ICSM Computer

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1 Answers

1. `Path.Combine()`

Example:

2. `Path.GetExtension()`

Example:

Combined Usage Example:

Summary

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Method	Purpose	Returns
`Path.Combine()`	Join multiple path segments	Combined full path string
`Path.GetExtension()`	Extract file extension from a path	File extension including `.` or empty string