Is there a portable way to get the current username in Python?

Question

Is there a portable way to get the current user\'s username in Python (i.e., one that works under both Linux and Windows, at least). It would work like os.getuid

Answer 1

To me using os module looks the best for portability: Works best on both Linux and Windows.

import os

# Gives user's home directory
userhome = os.path.expanduser('~')          

print "User's home Dir: " + userhome

# Gives username by splitting path based on OS
print "username: " + os.path.split(userhome)[-1]           

Output:

Windows:

User's home Dir: C:\Users\myuser

username: myuser

Linux:

User's home Dir: /root

username: root

No need of installing any modules or extensions.