class QStandardPaths

The QStandardPaths class provides methods for accessing standard paths. More…

Synopsis

Static functions

• def displayName()

• def findExecutable()

• def isTestModeEnabled()

• def locate()

• def locateAll()

• def setTestModeEnabled()

• def standardLocations()

• def writableLocation()

Note

This documentation may contain snippets that were automatically translated from C++ to Python. We always welcome contributions to the snippet translation. If you see an issue with the translation, you can also let us know by creating a ticket on https:/bugreports.qt.io/projects/PYSIDE

Detailed Description

This class contains functions to query standard locations on the local filesystem, for common tasks such as user-specific directories or system-wide configuration directories.

class StandardLocation

This enum describes the different locations that can be queried using methods such as writableLocation , standardLocations , and displayName .

Some of the values in this enum represent a user configuration. Such enum values will return the same paths in different applications, so they could be used to share data with other applications. Other values are specific to this application. Each enum value in the table below describes whether it’s application-specific or generic.

Application-specific directories should be assumed to be unreachable by other applications. Therefore, files placed there might not be readable by other applications, even if run by the same user. On the other hand, generic directories should be assumed to be accessible by all applications run by this user, but should still be assumed to be unreachable by applications by other users.

Data interchange with other users is out of the scope of QStandardPaths .

Constant	Description
QStandardPaths.DesktopLocation	Returns the user’s desktop directory. This is a generic value. On systems with no concept of a desktop, this is the same as QStandardPaths::HomeLocation.
QStandardPaths.DocumentsLocation	Returns the directory containing user document files. This is a generic value. The returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.FontsLocation	Returns the directory containing user’s fonts. This is a generic value. Note that installing fonts may require additional, platform-specific operations.
QStandardPaths.ApplicationsLocation	Returns the directory containing the user applications (either executables, application bundles, or shortcuts to them). This is a generic value. Note that installing applications may require additional, platform-specific operations. Files, folders or shortcuts in this directory are platform-specific.
QStandardPaths.MusicLocation	Returns the directory containing the user’s music or other audio files. This is a generic value. If no directory specific for music files exists, a sensible fallback for storing user documents is returned.
QStandardPaths.MoviesLocation	Returns the directory containing the user’s movies and videos. This is a generic value. If no directory specific for movie files exists, a sensible fallback for storing user documents is returned.
QStandardPaths.PicturesLocation	Returns the directory containing the user’s pictures or photos. This is a generic value. If no directory specific for picture files exists, a sensible fallback for storing user documents is returned.
QStandardPaths.TempLocation	Returns a directory where temporary files can be stored. The returned value might be application-specific, shared among other applications for this user, or even system-wide. The returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.HomeLocation	Returns the user’s home directory (the same as homePath() ). On Unix systems, this is equal to the HOME environment variable. This value might be generic or application-specific, but the returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.AppLocalDataLocation	Returns the local settings path on the Windows operating system. On all other platforms, it returns the same value as AppDataLocation. This enum value was added in Qt 5.4.
QStandardPaths.CacheLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific non-essential (cached) data should be written. This is an application-specific directory. The returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.GenericCacheLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific non-essential (cached) data, shared across applications, should be written. This is a generic value. Note that the returned path may be empty if the system has no concept of shared cache.
QStandardPaths.GenericDataLocation	Returns a directory location where persistent data shared across applications can be stored. This is a generic value. The returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.RuntimeLocation	Returns a directory location where runtime communication files should be written, like Unix local sockets. This is a generic value. The returned path may be empty on some systems.
QStandardPaths.ConfigLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific configuration files should be written. This may be either a generic value or application-specific, and the returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.DownloadLocation	Returns a directory for user’s downloaded files. This is a generic value. If no directory specific for downloads exists, a sensible fallback for storing user documents is returned.
QStandardPaths.GenericConfigLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific configuration files shared between multiple applications should be written. This is a generic value and the returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.AppDataLocation	Returns a directory location where persistent application data can be stored. This is an application-specific directory. To obtain a path to store data to be shared with other applications, use QStandardPaths::GenericDataLocation. The returned path is never empty. On the Windows operating system, this returns the roaming path. This enum value was added in Qt 5.4.
QStandardPaths.AppConfigLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific configuration files should be written. This is an application-specific directory, and the returned path is never empty. This enum value was added in Qt 5.5.
QStandardPaths.PublicShareLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific publicly shared files and directories can be stored. This is a generic value. Note that the returned path may be empty if the system has no concept of a publicly shared location. This enum value was added in Qt 6.4.
QStandardPaths.TemplatesLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific template files can be stored. This is a generic value. Note that the returned path may be empty if the system has no concept of a templates location. This enum value was added in Qt 6.4.
QStandardPaths.StateLocation	Returns a directory location where user-specific application state data files should be written. This is an application-specific directory, and the returned path is never empty.
QStandardPaths.GenericStateLocation	Returns a directory location where shared state data files across applications should be written. This value might be generic or application-specific, but the returned path is never empty.

The following table gives examples of paths on different operating systems. The first path is the writable path (unless noted). Other, additional paths, if any, represent non-writable locations.

Path type	macOS	Windows
DesktopLocation	“~/Desktop”	“C:/Users/<USER>/Desktop”
DocumentsLocation	“~/Documents”	“C:/Users/<USER>/Documents”
FontsLocation	“/System/Library/Fonts” (not writable)	“C:/Windows/Fonts” (not writable)
ApplicationsLocation	“/Applications” (not writable)	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs”
MusicLocation	“~/Music”	“C:/Users/<USER>/Music”
MoviesLocation	“~/Movies”	“C:/Users/<USER>/Videos”
PicturesLocation	“~/Pictures”	“C:/Users/<USER>/Pictures”
TempLocation	randomly generated by the OS	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/Temp”
HomeLocation	“~”	“C:/Users/<USER>”
AppLocalDataLocation	“~/Library/Application Support/<APPNAME>”, “/Library/Application Support/<APPNAME>”. “<APPDIR>/../Resources”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/<APPNAME>”, “C:/ProgramData/<APPNAME>”, “<APPDIR>”, “<APPDIR>/data”, “<APPDIR>/data/<APPNAME>”
CacheLocation	“~/Library/Caches/<APPNAME>”, “/Library/Caches/<APPNAME>”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/<APPNAME>/cache”
StateLocation	“~/Library/Preferences/<APPNAME>/State”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/<APPNAME>/State”, “C:/ProgramData/<APPNAME>/State”
GenericDataLocation	“~/Library/Application Support”, “/Library/Application Support”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local”, “C:/ProgramData”, “<APPDIR>”, “<APPDIR>/data”
RuntimeLocation	“~/Library/Application Support”	“C:/Users/<USER>”
ConfigLocation	“~/Library/Preferences”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/<APPNAME>”, “C:/ProgramData/<APPNAME>”
GenericConfigLocation	“~/Library/Preferences”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local”, “C:/ProgramData”
DownloadLocation	“~/Downloads”	“C:/Users/<USER>/Downloads”
GenericCacheLocation	“~/Library/Caches”, “/Library/Caches”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/cache”
GenericStateLocation	“~/Library/Preferences/State”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/State”, “C:/ProgramData/State”
AppDataLocation	“~/Library/Application Support/<APPNAME>”, “/Library/Application Support/<APPNAME>”. “<APPDIR>/../Resources”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Roaming/<APPNAME>”, “C:/ProgramData/<APPNAME>”, “<APPDIR>”, “<APPDIR>/data”, “<APPDIR>/data/<APPNAME>”
AppConfigLocation	“~/Library/Preferences/<APPNAME>”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Local/<APPNAME>”, “C:/ProgramData/<APPNAME>”
PublicShareLocation	“~/Public”	“C:/Users/Public”
TemplatesLocation	“~/Templates”	“C:/Users/<USER>/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Templates”

Path type	Linux and other UNIX operating systems
DesktopLocation	“~/Desktop”
DocumentsLocation	“~/Documents”
FontsLocation	“~/.fonts”, “~/.local/share/fonts”, “/usr/local/share/fonts”, “/usr/share/fonts”
ApplicationsLocation	“~/.local/share/applications”, “/usr/local/share/applications”, “/usr/share/applications”
MusicLocation	“~/Music”
MoviesLocation	“~/Videos”
PicturesLocation	“~/Pictures”
TempLocation	“/tmp”
HomeLocation	“~”
AppLocalDataLocation	“~/.local/share/<APPNAME>”, “/usr/local/share/<APPNAME>”, “/usr/share/<APPNAME>”
CacheLocation	“~/.cache/<APPNAME>”
StateLocation	“~/.local/state/<APPNAME>”
GenericDataLocation	“~/.local/share”, “/usr/local/share”, “/usr/share”
RuntimeLocation	“/run/user/<USER>”
ConfigLocation	“~/.config”, “/etc/xdg”
GenericConfigLocation	“~/.config”, “/etc/xdg”
DownloadLocation	“~/Downloads”
GenericCacheLocation	“~/.cache”
GenericStateLocation	“~/.local/state”
AppDataLocation	“~/.local/share/<APPNAME>”, “/usr/local/share/<APPNAME>”, “/usr/share/<APPNAME>”
AppConfigLocation	“~/.config/<APPNAME>”, “/etc/xdg/<APPNAME>”
PublicShareLocation	“~/Public”
TemplatesLocation	“~/Templates”

Path type	Android	iOS
DesktopLocation	“<APPROOT>/files”	“<APPROOT>/Documents/Desktop”
DocumentsLocation	“<USER>/Documents” [*], “<USER>/<APPNAME>/Documents”	“<APPROOT>/Documents”
FontsLocation	“/system/fonts” (not writable)	“<APPROOT>/Library/Fonts”
ApplicationsLocation	not supported (directory not readable)	not supported
MusicLocation	“<USER>/Music” [*], “<USER>/<APPNAME>/Music”	“<APPROOT>/Documents/Music”
MoviesLocation	“<USER>/Movies” [*], “<USER>/<APPNAME>/Movies”	“<APPROOT>/Documents/Movies”
PicturesLocation	“<USER>/Pictures” [*], “<USER>/<APPNAME>/Pictures”	“<APPROOT>/Documents/Pictures”, “assets-library://”
TempLocation	“<APPROOT>/cache”	“<APPROOT>/tmp”
HomeLocation	“<APPROOT>/files”	system defined
AppLocalDataLocation	“<APPROOT>/files”, “<USER>/<APPNAME>/files”	“<APPROOT>/Library/Application Support”
CacheLocation	“<APPROOT>/cache”, “<USER>/<APPNAME>/cache”	“<APPROOT>/Library/Caches”
StateLocation	“<APPROOT>/files/state”
GenericStateLocation (there is shared state)	“<APPROOT>/files/state”
GenericDataLocation	“<USER>” [*] or “<USER>/<APPNAME>/files”	“<APPROOT>/Library/Application Support”
RuntimeLocation	“<APPROOT>/cache”	not supported
ConfigLocation	“<APPROOT>/files/settings”	“<APPROOT>/Library/Preferences”
GenericConfigLocation	“<APPROOT>/files/settings” (there is no shared settings)	“<APPROOT>/Library/Preferences”
DownloadLocation	“<USER>/Downloads” [*], “<USER>/<APPNAME>/Downloads”	“<APPROOT>/Documents/Downloads”
GenericCacheLocation	“<APPROOT>/cache” (there is no shared cache)	“<APPROOT>/Library/Caches”
AppDataLocation	“<APPROOT>/files”, “<USER>/<APPNAME>/files”	“<APPROOT>/Library/Application Support”
AppConfigLocation	“<APPROOT>/files/settings”	“<APPROOT>/Library/Preferences/<APPNAME>”
PublicShareLocation	not supported	not supported
TemplatesLocation	not supported	not supported

In the table above, <APPNAME> is usually the organization name, the application name, or both, or a unique name generated at packaging. Similarly, <APPROOT> is the location where this application is installed (often a sandbox). <APPDIR> is the directory containing the application executable.

The paths above should not be relied upon, as they may change according to OS configuration, locale, or they may change in future Qt versions.

Note

On Android, applications with open files on the external storage (<USER> locations), will be killed if the external storage is unmounted.

Note

On Android 6.0 (API 23) or higher, the “WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE” permission must be requested at runtime when using writableLocation or standardLocations .

Note

On Android, reading/writing to GenericDataLocation needs the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE/WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission granted.

Note

[*] On Android 11 and above, public directories are no longer directly accessible in scoped storage mode. Thus, paths of the form "<USER>/DirName" are not returned. Instead, you can use QFileDialog which uses the Storage Access Framework (SAF) to access such directories.

Note

On iOS, if you do pass QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::PicturesLocation).last() as argument to QFileDialog::setDirectory(), a native image picker dialog will be used for accessing the user’s photo album. The filename returned can be loaded using QFile and related APIs. This feature was added in Qt 5.5.

See also

writableLocation() standardLocations() displayName() locate() locateAll()

class LocateOption

(inherits enum.Flag) This enum describes the different flags that can be used for controlling the behavior of locate and locateAll .

Constant	Description
QStandardPaths.LocateFile	return only files
QStandardPaths.LocateDirectory	return only directories

static displayName(type)

Parameters:

type – StandardLocation

Return type:

str

Returns a localized display name for the given location type or an empty QString if no relevant location can be found.

static findExecutable(executableName[, paths=list()])

Parameters:

• executableName – str

• paths – list of strings

Return type:

str

Finds the executable named executableName in the specified paths, or the system paths if paths is empty.

On most operating systems the system path is determined by the PATH environment variable. The directories where to search for the executable can be set in the paths argument. To search in both your own paths and the system paths, call findExecutable twice, once with paths set and once with paths empty. Symlinks are not resolved in order to preserve behavior for the case of executables whose behavior depends on the name they are invoked with.

Note

On Windows, the usual executable extensions (from the PATHEXT environment variable) are automatically appended. For example, the findExecutable(“foo”) call finds foo.exe or foo.bat if present.

Returns the absolute file path to the executable, or an empty string if not found.

If the given executableName is an absolute path pointing to an executable, its clean path is returned.

static isTestModeEnabled()

Return type:

bool

static locate(type, fileName[, options=QStandardPaths.LocateOption.LocateFile])

Parameters:

• type – StandardLocation

• fileName – str

• options – Combination of LocateOption

Return type:

str

Finds a file or directory called fileName in the standard locations for type.

The options flag lets you specify whether to look for files or directories. By default, this flag is set to LocateFile.

Returns the absolute path to the first file or directory found, otherwise returns an empty string.

static locateAll(type, fileName[, options=QStandardPaths.LocateOption.LocateFile])

Parameters:

• type – StandardLocation

• fileName – str

• options – Combination of LocateOption

Return type:

list of strings

Finds all files or directories by the name, fileName, in the standard locations for type.

The options flag lets you specify whether to look for files or directories. By default, this flag is set to LocateFile.

Returns the list of all the files that were found.

static setTestModeEnabled(testMode)

Parameters:

testMode – bool

If testMode is true, this enables a special “test mode” in QStandardPaths , which changes writable locations to point to test directories. This prevents auto tests from reading or writing to the current user’s configuration.

It affects the locations into which test programs might write files: GenericDataLocation, AppDataLocation, ConfigLocation, GenericConfigLocation, AppConfigLocation, StateLocation, GenericStateLocation, GenericCacheLocation, and CacheLocation. Other locations are not affected.

On Unix, XDG_DATA_HOME is set to ~/.qttest/share, XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set to ~/.qttest/config, XDG_STATE_HOME is set ~/.qttest/state and XDG_CACHE_HOME is set to ~/.qttest/cache.

On macOS, data goes to ~/.qttest/Application Support, cache goes to ~/.qttest/Cache, and config goes to ~/.qttest/Preferences.

On Windows, everything goes to a “qttest” directory under %APPDATA%.

static standardLocations(type)

Parameters:

type – StandardLocation

Return type:

list of strings

Returns all the directories where files of type belong.

The list of directories is sorted from high to low priority, starting with writableLocation() if it can be determined. This list is empty if no locations for type are defined.

See also

writableLocation()

static writableLocation(type)

Parameters:

type – StandardLocation

Return type:

str

Returns the directory where files of type should be written to, or an empty string if the location cannot be determined.

Note

The storage location returned may not exist; that is, it may need to be created by the system or the user.