Python get script location

5 Different Methods to Get the Current Script Location in Python

Learn the various ways to obtain the current script location in Python. Get the absolute path of the current file’s directory using OS module, pathlib or os.path. Check out the example codes and choose the best approach for your project.

• Using the OS module
• Using os.getcwd()
• Using os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
• Other useful functions
• Using pathlib or os.path
• Other simple code examples for getting the current script location in Python
• Conclusion
• How do I print the current path in Python?
• How to read file path in Python?
• How do I add a script to a path in Python?
• What is __ file __ in Python?

Python is a versatile and powerful programming language used in various fields. Obtaining the current script location in Python is a common task that can be achieved in various ways. This blog post will provide an overview of the different methods to get the current script location in Python.

Using the OS module

The OS module provides several functions to manipulate files and directories. One way to retrieve the current script location is to use the expanduser(’~’) function. This function works on both Unix and Windows platforms.

import osprint(os.path.expanduser('~')) 

This code will return the home directory of the current user.

Using os.getcwd()

Another way to retrieve the current script location is to use os.getcwd(). This function returns the current working directory.

This code will return the current working directory.

Using os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

The most commonly used method to obtain the script directory is os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)). This method returns the absolute path of the current file’s directory.

import osprint(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))) 

This code will return the absolute path of the current file’s directory.

Other useful functions

Other functions such as os.path.basename() and os.path.dirname() can be used to retrieve the file and directory name of the current script file.

import osprint(os.path.basename(__file__)) # returns the filename of the current script print(os.path.dirname(__file__)) # returns the directory of the current script 

__file__ is a variable that contains the path to the module that is currently being imported. Python 3.4 and up always have __file__ as an absolute path, except for __main__.__file__ when a script has been executed.

Using pathlib or os.path

Using pathlib or os.path can retrieve the directory from __file__ to obtain the full path of the current file’s directory. pathlib provides an object-oriented approach to file and directory manipulation.

from pathlib import Pathprint(Path(__file__).resolve().parent) 

This code will return the full path of the current file’s directory.

Other simple code examples for getting the current script location in Python

In Python , python get location of script code example

import osfile_path = os.path.realpath(__file__) 

Conclusion

Obtaining the current script location in Python can be achieved through various methods. Using the OS module and the __file__ variable are the most commonly used approaches. Other functions such as os.path.basename() and os.path.dirname() can also be useful. pathlib provides an object-oriented approach to file and directory manipulation. The expanduser(’~’) function from the OS module is recommended as it works on both Unix and Windows platforms. Python 3.4 and up always have __file__ as an absolute path, except for __main__.__file__ when a script has been executed.

In conclusion, the methods outlined in this article will allow you to retrieve the current script location in Python. Whether you choose to use the OS module, the __file__ variable, or the pathlib or os.path library, you will be able to easily access the directory of your Python script.

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Python 3: Path of the Current Script File and Directory

If you want the path of the directory that the current Python script file is in:

from pathlib import Path script_dir = Path( __file__ ).parent.absolute() print( script_dir )

Using os.path

File Path

To get the file path of the current Python script:

import os script_path = os.path.abspath( __file__ ) print( script_path )

Directory

If you want the path of the directory that the current Python script file is in:

import os script_dir = os.path.abspath( os.path.dirname( __file__ ) ) print( script_dir )

__file__

__file__ is an attribute (special variable) set by Python in modules that are loaded from files (usually, but not required to be, files that have the .py extension). The attribute is not set when you’re running code inside a Python shell (the python or python3 command line program), in a Jupyter notebook, or in other cases where the module is not loaded from a file.

Although we could use __file__ by itself:

it is not guaranteed to be an absolute path (i.e., it may be a relative path). The pathlib.Path.absolute() or os.path.abspath call ensures that it is an absolute path.

References and Notes

• The import system — Python 3 documentation
• In Python 3.4 and up, __file__ is always an absolute path «by default, with the sole exception of __main__.__file__ when a script has been executed directly using a relative path.» See Other Language Changes — What’s New in Python 3.4.

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Python 101: How to Find the Path of a Running Script

This topic is actually more complicated then it first appears. In this article, we’ll spend a little time looking at this problem and some of the solutions.

Several years ago, one of my friends on the wxPython users mailing list told me that he uses the following:

import os script_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath( __file__ ))

This works for me and is what I currently use. The code above returns the absolute path, by the way. According to the documentation, it is the equivalent of

import os os.path.normpath(join(os.getcwd(), path))

I’ve also seen people recommending the following similar solution:

import os os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))

The documentation states that realpath will return the canonical path of the specified filename, eliminating any symbolic links encountered in the path, which sounds like it may be better than the solution I’ve been using.

Regardless, as some are likely to point out, you cannot use __file__ from within IDLE / the interpreter. If you do, you’ll get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in __file__ NameError: name '__file__' is not defined

You’ll end up with the same error if you happen to “freeze” your application by creating an executable with something like py2exe. For cases like this, some would recommend the following as an alternative:

import os os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0])

Now this will not work if you happen to call your script from another script. I’m also pretty sure that when I tried this with a frozen application and called the executable from a shortcut, it was returning the shortcut’s path instead of the executable’s. However, I may be getting that confused with os.getcwd() which will definitely not work reliably.

The solution I ended up with for the executables I created with py2exe was this one:

import os, sys os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0]))

I’m pretty sure one of the core developers from wxPython had recommended using that, but I can’t be sure as I don’t seem to have that email any longer. Regardless, Mark Pilgrim, author of Dive Into Python, also recommends using os.path.abspath.

For now I think I will stick with either os.path.abspath or os.path.realpath for scripts and the above variation for my frozen Windows applications. I would be interested in hearing about your solution though. Let me know if you’ve found anything that works cross-platform and/or for frozen scripts.

Further Reading

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Get the Current Script File Directory in Python

1. Python Get the Working Directory
2. Python Get the Script File Directory

We have introduced the file and directory operation in Python 3 basic tutorial. In this section, we show you how to get the relative and absolute path of the executing script.

Python Get the Working Directory

os.getcwd() function returns the current working directory.

If you run it in Python idle prompt, the result is the path of Python IDLE.

Python Get the Script File Directory

The script file path could be found in the global namespace with the special global variable __file__ . It returns the relative path of the script file relative to the working directory.

We will show you in the below example codes how to use the functions we just introduced.

import os  wd = os.getcwd() print("working directory is ", wd)  filePath = __file__ print("This script file path is ", filePath)  absFilePath = os.path.abspath(__file__) print("This script absolute path is ", absFilePath)  path, filename = os.path.split(absFilePath) print("Script file path is <>, filename is <>".format(path, filename)) 

absFilePath = os.path.abspath(__file__) 

os.path.abspath(__file__) returns the absolute path of the given relative path.

path, filename = os.path.split(absFilePath) 

The os.path.split() method splits the file name with path to pure path and pure file name.

Founder of DelftStack.com. Jinku has worked in the robotics and automotive industries for over 8 years. He sharpened his coding skills when he needed to do the automatic testing, data collection from remote servers and report creation from the endurance test. He is from an electrical/electronics engineering background but has expanded his interest to embedded electronics, embedded programming and front-/back-end programming.

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