boost::filesystem get relative path

In new versions of boost (starting in 1.60), you can use boost::filesystem::relative. (See the documentation here.)

#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
#include <iostream>
namespace fs = boost::filesystem;

int main()
{
    fs::path parentPath("/home/user1/");
    fs::path childPath("/home/user1/Downloads/Books");
    fs::path relativePath = fs::relative(childPath, parentPath);
    std::cout << relativePath << std::endl;
}

The code in the provided answers is quite long on each line. Assuming that you wrote namespace fs = boost::filesystem; then this code gets you most of the way and looks easier to read to me:

    auto relativeTo( const fs::path& from, const fs::path& to )
    {
       // Start at the root path and while they are the same then do nothing then when they first
       // diverge take the entire from path, swap it with '..' segments, and then append the remainder of the to path.
       auto fromIter = from.begin();
       auto toIter = to.begin();

       // Loop through both while they are the same to find nearest common directory
       while( fromIter != from.end() && toIter != to.end() && *toIter == *fromIter )
       {
          ++toIter;
          ++fromIter;
       }

       // Replace from path segments with '..' (from => nearest common directory)
       auto finalPath = fs::path{};
       while( fromIter != from.end() )
       {
          finalPath /= "..";
          ++fromIter;
       }

       // Append the remainder of the to path (nearest common directory => to)
       while( toIter != to.end() )
       {
          finalPath /= *toIter;
          ++toIter;
       }

       return finalPath;
    }

Taken from a link found by following the ticket Nicol linked to:

template < >
    path& path::append< typename path::iterator >( typename path::iterator begin, typename path::iterator end, const codecvt_type& cvt)
    { 
        for( ; begin != end ; ++begin )
            *this /= *begin;
        return *this;
    }
    // Return path when appended to a_From will resolve to same as a_To
    boost::filesystem::path make_relative( boost::filesystem::path a_From, boost::filesystem::path a_To )
    {
        a_From = boost::filesystem::absolute( a_From ); a_To = boost::filesystem::absolute( a_To );
        boost::filesystem::path ret;
        boost::filesystem::path::const_iterator itrFrom( a_From.begin() ), itrTo( a_To.begin() );
        // Find common base
        for( boost::filesystem::path::const_iterator toEnd( a_To.end() ), fromEnd( a_From.end() ) ; itrFrom != fromEnd && itrTo != toEnd && *itrFrom == *itrTo; ++itrFrom, ++itrTo );
        // Navigate backwards in directory to reach previously found base
        for( boost::filesystem::path::const_iterator fromEnd( a_From.end() ); itrFrom != fromEnd; ++itrFrom )
        {
            if( (*itrFrom) != "." )
                ret /= "..";
        }
        // Now navigate down the directory branch
        ret.append( itrTo, a_To.end() );
        return ret;
    }

Stick that in a header file and it should do what you want.

Sample call:

boost::filesystem::path a("foo/bar"), b("foo/test/korv.txt");
std::cout << make_relative( a, b ).string() << std::endl;