How to typeset a file path?

Question

I would like to properly typeset a file path, e.g.

C:\Program Files\Some program\bin\executable.exe

The first problem I encountered was that LaTeX tries to treat \Program as a command. I tried escaping it with another backslash which created a linebreak.

Then I found this package menukeys but I am not really happy because it typesets system-specific delimiters (i.e. \ for Windows and / for Unix-like) as some weird arrows.

Which leads to my question: what is the preferred way of typesetting a file path in LaTeX?

Answer 1

You could load the package url with the option obeyspaces and encase the fully qualified file name in a \url instruction:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[obeyspaces]{url}
\begin{document}
\path{C:\Program Files\Some program\bin\executable.exe} % equivalent to \url{...}, but more semantic
\end{document}

Addendum: If you need or wish to allow line breaks at the spaces, choose the spaces option as well:

\usepackage[obeyspaces,spaces]{url}

Answer 2

I'm quite fond of menukeys, and I think you should still consider using it.

Unfortunately, menukeys currently doesn't provide its users a way of customising the output path separator (the "weird arrow" you're referring to). However, I'm sure Tobias "Tobi" Weh (the author of menukeys) would add that feature in a future release if he sees this question.

In the meantime, here is a way of customising the path separator.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{menukeys}

\makeatletter

% --- macro for changing path sep ---
\newcommand\setnewpathsep[1]
{%
    \tw@declare@style@simple*{paths}{%
       {\ttfamily\CurrentMenuElement}%
    }[%
       #1%
    ]{blacknwhite}
}

% --- reset the path separator (macro expands to original style def) ---
\newcommand\resetpathsep
{%
     \tw@declare@style@simple*{paths}{%
       {\ttfamily\CurrentMenuElement}%
    }[%
       \hspace{0.2em plus 0.1em}%
       \raisebox{0.08ex}{%
          \tikz{\fill[\usemenucolor{txt}] (0,0) -- (0.5ex,0.5ex)%
                    -- (0,1ex) -- cycle;}%
    }%
       \hspace{0.2em plus 0.1em}%
    ]{blacknwhite}
}

\makeatother

\begin{document}
% original style
\directory{C:/Program Files/Some program/bin/executable.exe}

% Windows style
\setnewpathsep{\textbackslash}
\directory{C:/Program Files/Some program/bin/executable.exe}

% Unix style
\setnewpathsep{/}
\directory{C:/Program Files/Some program/bin/executable.exe}

% back to original style
\resetpathsep
\directory{C:/Program Files/Some program/bin/executable.exe}
\end{document}