Get real path from URI, Android KitKat new storage access framework

Note: This answer addresses part of the problem. For a complete solution (in the form of a library), look at Paul Burke's answer.

You could use the URI to obtain document id, and then query either MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI or MediaStore.Images.Media.INTERNAL_CONTENT_URI (depending on the SD card situation).

To get document id:

// Will return "image:x*"
String wholeID = DocumentsContract.getDocumentId(uriThatYouCurrentlyHave);

// Split at colon, use second item in the array
String id = wholeID.split(":")[1];

String[] column = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };     

// where id is equal to             
String sel = MediaStore.Images.Media._ID + "=?";

Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().
                          query(MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI, 
                          column, sel, new String[]{ id }, null);

String filePath = "";

int columnIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(column[0]);

if (cursor.moveToFirst()) {
    filePath = cursor.getString(columnIndex);
}   

cursor.close();

Reference: I'm not able to find the post that this solution is taken from. I wanted to ask the original poster to contribute here. Will look some more tonight.


Before new gallery access in KitKat I got my real path in sdcard with this method

That was never reliable. There is no requirement that the Uri that you are returned from an ACTION_GET_CONTENT or ACTION_PICK request has to be indexed by the MediaStore, or even has to represent a file on the file system. The Uri could, for example, represent a stream, where an encrypted file is decrypted for you on the fly.

How could I manage to obtain the real path in sdcard?

There is no requirement that there is a file corresponding to the Uri.

Yes, I really need a path

Then copy the file from the stream to your own temporary file, and use it. Better yet, just use the stream directly, and avoid the temporary file.

I have changed my Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT for Intent.ACTION_PICK

That will not help your situation. There is no requirement that an ACTION_PICK response be for a Uri that has a file on the filesystem that you can somehow magically derive.


This will get the file path from the MediaProvider, DownloadsProvider, and ExternalStorageProvider, while falling back to the unofficial ContentProvider method you mention.

/**
 * Get a file path from a Uri. This will get the the path for Storage Access
 * Framework Documents, as well as the _data field for the MediaStore and
 * other file-based ContentProviders.
 *
 * @param context The context.
 * @param uri The Uri to query.
 * @author paulburke
 */
public static String getPath(final Context context, final Uri uri) {

    final boolean isKitKat = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT;

    // DocumentProvider
    if (isKitKat && DocumentsContract.isDocumentUri(context, uri)) {
        // ExternalStorageProvider
        if (isExternalStorageDocument(uri)) {
            final String docId = DocumentsContract.getDocumentId(uri);
            final String[] split = docId.split(":");
            final String type = split[0];

            if ("primary".equalsIgnoreCase(type)) {
                return Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/" + split[1];
            }

            // TODO handle non-primary volumes
        }
        // DownloadsProvider
        else if (isDownloadsDocument(uri)) {

            final String id = DocumentsContract.getDocumentId(uri);
            final Uri contentUri = ContentUris.withAppendedId(
                    Uri.parse("content://downloads/public_downloads"), Long.valueOf(id));

            return getDataColumn(context, contentUri, null, null);
        }
        // MediaProvider
        else if (isMediaDocument(uri)) {
            final String docId = DocumentsContract.getDocumentId(uri);
            final String[] split = docId.split(":");
            final String type = split[0];

            Uri contentUri = null;
            if ("image".equals(type)) {
                contentUri = MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
            } else if ("video".equals(type)) {
                contentUri = MediaStore.Video.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
            } else if ("audio".equals(type)) {
                contentUri = MediaStore.Audio.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
            }

            final String selection = "_id=?";
            final String[] selectionArgs = new String[] {
                    split[1]
            };

            return getDataColumn(context, contentUri, selection, selectionArgs);
        }
    }
    // MediaStore (and general)
    else if ("content".equalsIgnoreCase(uri.getScheme())) {
        return getDataColumn(context, uri, null, null);
    }
    // File
    else if ("file".equalsIgnoreCase(uri.getScheme())) {
        return uri.getPath();
    }

    return null;
}

/**
 * Get the value of the data column for this Uri. This is useful for
 * MediaStore Uris, and other file-based ContentProviders.
 *
 * @param context The context.
 * @param uri The Uri to query.
 * @param selection (Optional) Filter used in the query.
 * @param selectionArgs (Optional) Selection arguments used in the query.
 * @return The value of the _data column, which is typically a file path.
 */
public static String getDataColumn(Context context, Uri uri, String selection,
        String[] selectionArgs) {

    Cursor cursor = null;
    final String column = "_data";
    final String[] projection = {
            column
    };

    try {
        cursor = context.getContentResolver().query(uri, projection, selection, selectionArgs,
                null);
        if (cursor != null && cursor.moveToFirst()) {
            final int column_index = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(column);
            return cursor.getString(column_index);
        }
    } finally {
        if (cursor != null)
            cursor.close();
    }
    return null;
}


/**
 * @param uri The Uri to check.
 * @return Whether the Uri authority is ExternalStorageProvider.
 */
public static boolean isExternalStorageDocument(Uri uri) {
    return "com.android.externalstorage.documents".equals(uri.getAuthority());
}

/**
 * @param uri The Uri to check.
 * @return Whether the Uri authority is DownloadsProvider.
 */
public static boolean isDownloadsDocument(Uri uri) {
    return "com.android.providers.downloads.documents".equals(uri.getAuthority());
}

/**
 * @param uri The Uri to check.
 * @return Whether the Uri authority is MediaProvider.
 */
public static boolean isMediaDocument(Uri uri) {
    return "com.android.providers.media.documents".equals(uri.getAuthority());
}

These are taken from my open source library, aFileChooser.


the answer below is written by https://stackoverflow.com/users/3082682/cvizv on a page which does not exist anymore, since he has not enough rep to answer a question, I am posting it. No credits by me.

public String getImagePath(Uri uri){
   Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().query(uri, null, null, null, null);
   cursor.moveToFirst();
   String document_id = cursor.getString(0);
   document_id = document_id.substring(document_id.lastIndexOf(":")+1);
   cursor.close();

   cursor = getContentResolver().query( 
   android.provider.MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI,
   null, MediaStore.Images.Media._ID + " = ? ", new String[]{document_id}, null);
   cursor.moveToFirst();
   String path = cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA));
   cursor.close();

   return path;
}

Edit: There is a flow on the code; if device has more than one external storage (external sdcard, external usb etc.), above the code won't work non primary storages.