Python: Getting AppData folder in a cross-platform way

Question

I\'d like a code snippet that gets the proper directory for app data (config files, etc) on all platforms (Win/Mac/Linux at least). For example: %APPDATA%/ on Windows.

Answer 1

Qt's QStandardPaths documentation lists paths like this.

Using Python 3.8

import sys
import pathlib

def get_datadir() -> pathlib.Path:

    """
    Returns a parent directory path
    where persistent application data can be stored.

    # linux: ~/.local/share
    # macOS: ~/Library/Application Support
    # windows: C:/Users//AppData/Roaming
    """

    home = pathlib.Path.home()

    if sys.platform == "win32":
        return home / "AppData/Roaming"
    elif sys.platform == "linux":
        return home / ".local/share"
    elif sys.platform == "darwin":
        return home / "Library/Application Support"

# create your program's directory

my_datadir = get_datadir() / "program-name"

try:
    my_datadir.mkdir(parents=True)
except FileExistsError:
    pass

The Python documentation recommends the sys.platform.startswith('linux') "idiom" for compatibility with older versions of Python that returned things like "linux2" or "linux3".