private String relative(String left, String right){
    String[] lefts = left.split("/");
    String[] rights = right.split("/");
    int min = Math.min(lefts.length, rights.length);
    int commonIdx = -1;
    for(int i = 0; i < min; i++){
        if(commonIdx < 0 && !lefts[i].equals(rights[i])){
            commonIdx = i - 1;
            break;
        }
    }
    if(commonIdx < 0){
        return null;
    }
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(Math.max(left.length(), right.length()));
    sb.append(left).append("/");
    for(int i = commonIdx + 1; i < lefts.length;i++){
        sb.append("../");
    }
    for(int i = commonIdx + 1; i < rights.length;i++){
        sb.append(rights[i]).append("/");
    }

    return sb.deleteCharAt(sb.length() -1).toString();
}

Psuedo-code:

使用路径分隔符("/")拆分字符串 通过迭代拆分字符串的结果来找到最大的公共路径(因此在两个示例中，您最终会得到"/var/data"或"/a") 返回“。”+ whicheverPathIsLonger.substring (commonPath.length);

private String relative(String left, String right){
    String[] lefts = left.split("/");
    String[] rights = right.split("/");
    int min = Math.min(lefts.length, rights.length);
    int commonIdx = -1;
    for(int i = 0; i < min; i++){
        if(commonIdx < 0 && !lefts[i].equals(rights[i])){
            commonIdx = i - 1;
            break;
        }
    }
    if(commonIdx < 0){
        return null;
    }
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(Math.max(left.length(), right.length()));
    sb.append(left).append("/");
    for(int i = commonIdx + 1; i < lefts.length;i++){
        sb.append("../");
    }
    for(int i = commonIdx + 1; i < rights.length;i++){
        sb.append(rights[i]).append("/");
    }

    return sb.deleteCharAt(sb.length() -1).toString();
}

我假设你有fromPath(一个文件夹的绝对路径)，和toPath(一个文件夹/文件的绝对路径)，你正在寻找一个路径，代表文件/文件夹在toPath作为一个相对路径从fromPath(你当前的工作目录是fromPath)，然后像这样的工作:

public static String getRelativePath(String fromPath, String toPath) {

  // This weirdness is because a separator of '/' messes with String.split()
  String regexCharacter = File.separator;
  if (File.separatorChar == '\\') {
    regexCharacter = "\\\\";
  }

  String[] fromSplit = fromPath.split(regexCharacter);
  String[] toSplit = toPath.split(regexCharacter);

  // Find the common path
  int common = 0;
  while (fromSplit[common].equals(toSplit[common])) {
    common++;
  }

  StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer(".");

  // Work your way up the FROM path to common ground
  for (int i = common; i < fromSplit.length; i++) {
    result.append(File.separatorChar).append("..");
  }

  // Work your way down the TO path
  for (int i = common; i < toSplit.length; i++) {
    result.append(File.separatorChar).append(toSplit[i]);
  }

  return result.toString();
}

如果路径在JRE 1.5运行时或maven插件中不可用

package org.afc.util;

import java.io.File;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;

public class FileUtil {

    public static String getRelativePath(String basePath, String filePath)  {
        return getRelativePath(new File(basePath), new File(filePath));
    }

    public static String getRelativePath(File base, File file)  {

        List<String> bases = new LinkedList<String>();
        bases.add(0, base.getName());
        for (File parent = base.getParentFile(); parent != null; parent = parent.getParentFile()) {
            bases.add(0, parent.getName());
        }

        List<String> files = new LinkedList<String>();
        files.add(0, file.getName());
        for (File parent = file.getParentFile(); parent != null; parent = parent.getParentFile()) {
            files.add(0, parent.getName());
        }

        int overlapIndex = 0;
        while (overlapIndex < bases.size() && overlapIndex < files.size() && bases.get(overlapIndex).equals(files.get(overlapIndex))) {
            overlapIndex++;
        }

        StringBuilder relativePath = new StringBuilder();
        for (int i = overlapIndex; i < bases.size(); i++) {
            relativePath.append("..").append(File.separatorChar);
        }

        for (int i = overlapIndex; i < files.size(); i++) {
            relativePath.append(files.get(i)).append(File.separatorChar);
        }

        relativePath.deleteCharAt(relativePath.length() - 1);
        return relativePath.toString();
    }

}

如果你知道第二个字符串是第一个字符串的一部分:

String s1 = "/var/data/stuff/xyz.dat";
String s2 = "/var/data";
String s3 = s1.substring(s2.length());

或者，如果你真的想把句号放在开头，就像你的例子中那样:

String s3 = ".".concat(s1.substring(s2.length()));