python save files to user folder (Windows)

Question

I have this program in Python which should save text files to a folder inside the "My Documents" of the user. The problem is that the program doesn't know the username, or the Windows version to know the correct path. How could I get this done?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

6

The doc says, the following code is expanded to the user's home directory on windows too..

homeDir = os.path.expanduser("~")

From the documentation:

On Windows, HOME and USERPROFILE will be used if set, otherwise a combination of HOMEPATH and HOMEDRIVE will be used. An initial ~user is handled by stripping the last directory component from the created user path derived above.

Also look into this for using Win32APIs

edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

Community

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answered Jun 24 '12 at 03:42

UltraInstinct

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@JBernardo: Its actually uses more environment-variables than that. I updated my post with the actual wordings. – UltraInstinct Jun 24 '12 at 03:48
this is not the correct solution, but it helps. This gives the Path to the user's home, not the user's My Documents folder – jeanc Jun 26 '12 at 04:15

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 24 '12 at 03:40

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Get from the environment variable:

os.environ['USERPROFILE']

or

os.environ['HOME']

answered Jun 24 '12 at 03:40

JBernardo

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On my Windows 10 system, it likes the 'USERPROFILE' version but doesn't like the 'HOME' one and reports an error. The USERPROFILE version returns "C:\Users\" – Developer63 Aug 30 '21 at 19:27

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 24 '12 at 03:41

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The winpaths package provides functions to retrieve the values you need.

answered Jun 24 '12 at 03:41

Ned Batchelder

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python save files to user folder (Windows)

3 Answers3