Get the Home Directory in Python

When we are building Python applications that store or retrieve user-specific files and settings, then we will often need to access the home directory. The home directory is the default location on a computer where user-related data is stored, such as documents, configuration files, and application data.

Python provides simple and cross-platform ways of finding the home directory programmatically by making it easy to write code that works on Windows, macOS, and Linux without modifications.

In this article, we'll explore the different methods to get the home directory in Python.

Using os.path.expanduser("~")

The os.path.expanduser() is a function in Python's built-in os.path module. When we assign the ~ character to the expanduser() function, it returns a user's home directory.

Example

Here in this example, we are getting the user's home directory by passing the symbol ~ to the function os.path.expanduser() -

import os

home_directory = os.path.expanduser("~")
print(home_directory)

Following is the output of the above program -

C:\Users\91970

Using Path.home()

Path.home() is a method available in Python's built-in module pathlib. This module returns the home directory of the current user as a Path object, which is part of Python's object-oriented approach to file system paths.

Example

Following is the example, in which we are obtaining the user's home directory by calling the Path.home() method -

from pathlib import Path

home_directory = Path.home()
print(home_directory)

Following is the output of the above program ?

C:\Users\91970

Using os.environ['HOME']

The os.environ['HOME'] is another method to access the HOME environment variable using Python's built-in os module. This method directly retrieves the path to the current user's home directory on Unix-based systems such as Linux and macOS.

Example

Following is the example which shows how to get the current user's home directory by accessing the HOME environment variable using the os.environ() method -

import os

home_directory = os.environ['HOME']
print(home_directory)

Following is the output of the above program -

C:\Users\91970

Note: When we execute the above program on Windows OS, it will raise an error. We can use os.environ.get() method to access the current user's home directory.

Below is the example in which we pass the parameter USERPROFILE to the function os.environ.get() to get the home directory on Windows operating system -

import os

home_dir = os.environ.get('USERPROFILE')
print(home_dir)

Following is the output of the above program -

C:\Users\91970