This method does not verify that the path or file name exists.

Possible patterns for the string returned by this method are as follows:

• An empty string (path specified a relative path on the current drive or volume).

• "/" (path specified an absolute path on the current drive).

• "X:" (path specified a relative path on a drive, where X represents a drive or volume letter).

• "X:/" (path specified an absolute path on a given drive).

• "\\ComputerName\SharedFolder" (a UNC path).

The .NET Framework does not support direct access to physical disks through paths that are device names, such as "\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0 ".

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.

The following example demonstrates the Path.GetPathRoot(string) method.

using System;
using System.IO;
class GetPathRootTest 
{
  public static void Main() {
    string [] paths = {                                

@"\ecmatest\examples\pathtests.txt",
      "pathtests.xyzzy",
      @"\",
      @"C:\",                                  

@"\\myserver\myshare\foo\bar\baz.txt"
    };
    foreach (string pathString in paths) {
      string s = Path.GetPathRoot(pathString);
      Console.WriteLine("Path: {0} Path root is {1}",pathString, s== null? "null": s);
    }
  }
}

The output is