A symbolic path (or pseudopath) is a predefined short form of a path that you can use in LabVIEW. Use symbolic paths to point to a path that resolves to different file locations based on the execution environment.

Symbolic paths act like virtual folders for the LabVIEW environment. Symbolic paths resolve to different locations based on where on disk LabVIEW is installed or which user is logged in.

Exactly what a symbolic path targets depends on the specific symbolic path.

In general, symbolic paths resolve to target paths within three types of locations:

  • The LabVIEW folder (for example, C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2024)
  • The version folder of any active LVAddons (for example, C:\Program Files\NI\LVAddons\nidaqmx\1)
  • Any Targets folders within the version folder of any active LVAddons

For example, the <vilib> symbolic path represents any <vi.lib> folder within these locations. At run time, LabVIEW interprets the <vilib> symbolic path as an absolute path. The absolute paths that <vilib> can resolve to can depend on where LabVIEW is installed and which add-ons are installed, such as:

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2009\vi.lib
  • D:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2009\vi.lib
  • C:\Program Files\NI\LVAddons\nidaqmx\1\vi.lib

Table 9. Symbolic Paths in LabVIEW includes information about the symbolic paths that LabVIEW supports.

LabVIEW supports only these specific symbolic paths. Athough you cannot add custom symbolic paths, you can expand the set of locations that a supported symbolic path resolves to. For more information, see Version-Independent LabVIEW Add-ons.

Table 9. Symbolic Paths in LabVIEW
Symbolic Path Intended Use
<libdir> Pointer to all folders that contain paths that other symbolic paths could resolve to
<menus> Palette files
<vilib> APIs for general public VIs
<userlib> APIs for private VIs
<instrlib> Instrument driver APIs
<helpdir> Help documentation
<resource> Editor extensions not intended for runtime deployment
<nishared> Location where NI installs shared components

Resolves to only a single location
<osdatadir> Suggested default location for storing data files

Resolves to only a single location

To see the set of paths that a symbolic path resolves to on a system, use the Build And Resolve Symbolic Path VI[1]1 LabVIEW 2023 Q3 and later. Build And Resolve Symbolic Path is located in the vi.lib/Utility/Symbolic Paths folder.

Symbolic Path Syntax

Operating System Syntax Example
Windows <vilib>:\path to file
  • Linux
  • macOS
 /<vilib>/path to file

1 LabVIEW 2023 Q3 and later