Convert the given file specification into an absolute path. Spec is a term Alias(Relative) (e.g., (library(lists)), a relative filename or an absolute filename. The primary intention of this predicate is to resolve files specified as Alias(Relative). This predicate only returns non-directories, unless the option file_type(directory) is specified. Option is a list of options to guide the conversion:

extensions(ListOfExtensions)

List of file extensions to try. Default is ’’. For each extension, absolute_file_name/3 will first add the extension and then verify the conditions imposed by the other options. If the condition fails, the next extension on the list is tried. Extensions may be specified both as .ext or plain ext.

relative_to(+FileOrDir)

Resolve the path relative to the given directory or the directory holding the given file. Without this option, paths are resolved relative to the working directory (see working_directory/2) or, if Spec is atomic and absolute_file_name/[2,3] is executed in a directive, it uses the current source file as reference.

access(Mode)

Imposes the condition access_file(File, Mode). Mode is one of read, write, append, execute, exist or none. See also access_file/2.

file_type(Type)

Defines extensions. Current mapping: txt implies [''], prolog implies ['.pl',’’], executable implies ['.so',’’] and qlf implies ['.qlf',’’]. The Type directory implies [''] and causes this predicate to generate (only) directories. The file type source is an alias for prolog for compatibility with SICStus Prolog. See also prolog_file_type/2.

file_errors(fail/error)

If error (default), throw an existence_error exception if the file cannot be found. If fail, stay silent.^{144Silent operation was the default up to version 3.2.6.}

solutions(first/all)

If first (default), the predicate leaves no choice point. Otherwise a choice point will be left and backtracking may yield more solutions.

expand(Boolean)

If true (default is false) and Spec is atomic, call expand_file_name/2 followed by member/2 on Spec before proceeding. This is a SWI-Prolog extension intended to minimise porting effort after SWI-Prolog stopped expanding environment variables and the ~ by default. This option should be considered deprecated. In particular the use of wildcard patterns such as * should be avoided.

The Prolog flag verbose_file_search can be set to true to help debugging Prolog's search for files.

This predicate is derived from Quintus Prolog. In Quintus Prolog, the argument order was absolute_file_name(+Spec, +Options, -Path). The argument order has been changed for compatibility with ISO and SICStus. The Quintus argument order is still accepted.