How to get the current working directory using python 3?

Question

When I run the following script in IDLE

import os
print(os.getcwd())

I get output as

D:\testtool

but when I run from cmd prompt, I get

c:\Python33>python D:\testtool\current_dir.py
c:\Python33

How do I get same result which I got using IDLE ?

score 120 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

120

It seems that IDLE changes its current working dir to location of the script that is executed, while when running the script using cmd doesn't do that and it leaves CWD as it is.

To change current working dir to the one containing your script you can use:

import os
os.chdir(os.path.dirname(__file__))
print(os.getcwd())

The __file__ variable is available only if you execute script from file, and it contains path to the file. More on it here: Python __file__ attribute absolute or relative?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Community

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answered Jun 28 '13 at 09:30

Maciek

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I would recommend against changing the directory as you might get non-deterministic results if the user expected to run the script from a different directory. – Frederick Ollinger Sep 02 '21 at 05:05

score 21 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 18 '18 at 13:22

21

Using pathlib you can get the folder in which the current file is located. __file__ is the pathname of the file from which the module was loaded. Ref: docs

import pathlib

current_dir = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent
current_file = pathlib.Path(__file__)

Doc ref: link

edited Dec 18 '18 at 13:22

Alen Siljak

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answered Jul 08 '17 at 08:57

butsyk

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Can't the current file location and the current working directory be different? – Stevoisiak Jun 24 '19 at 16:38

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 18 '21 at 15:57

9

Python's default pathlib library provides the cwd like so:

import pathlib

pathlib.Path.cwd()

answered Mar 18 '21 at 15:57

iacob

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Great, I'm looking for pathlib library – muchtarsp Jun 07 '21 at 09:04

How to get the current working directory using python 3?

3 Answers3

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