Confusion re placement of INPUT files

[WSinc]

When I first open a project, how do I know where to put whatever input files are needed?

Of course I could use GETCWD to find out, but is there some rule that says where that would be by default?

I used to think its where the EXE is, but apparently that is not always the case.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

If you are running from within Visual Studio, the default is the "project directory" - that is, the directory where the executable project's .vfproj file is located. You can change this in the Debugging property of the project.

If you just double-click on an EXE in Windows Explorer, the default is the directory with the EXE. If you use a shortcut to start the EXE, you can set a "Start In" property of the shortcut - if it is not set then it is the same as double-clicking the EXE.