xdg-base-dirs

xdg-base-dirs is a Python module that provides functions to return paths to the directories defined by the XDG Base Directory Specification, to save you from duplicating the same snippet of logic in every Python utility you write that deals with user cache, configuration, or data files. It has no external dependencies and consists of a single file, making it easy to integrate.

xdg-base-dirs currently implements version 0.8 of the specification, released on 8th May 2021.

[!NOTE]

xdg-base-dirs was previously named xdg, and was renamed due to an import collision with PyXDG. If you used xdg prior to the rename, update by changing the dependency name from xdg to xdg-base-dirs, and the import from xdg to xdg_base_dirs.

Installation

xdg-base-dirs requires Python 3.10 or later. To add xdg-base-dirs as a dependency to a project managed with uv, use:

uv add xdg-base-dirs

Alternatively, since xdg-base-dirs is only a single file you may prefer to just copy src/xdg_base_dirs/__init__.py from the source distribution into your project.

Usage

from xdg_base_dirs import (
    xdg_cache_home,
    xdg_config_dirs,
    xdg_config_home,
    xdg_data_dirs,
    xdg_data_home,
    xdg_runtime_dir,
    xdg_state_home,
)

xdg_cache_home(), xdg_config_home(), xdg_data_home(), and xdg_state_home() return pathlib.Path objects containing the value of the environment variable named XDG_CACHE_HOME, XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, and XDG_STATE_HOME respectively, or the default defined in the specification if the environment variable is unset, empty, or contains a relative path. Only absolute paths are considered valid; any relative path causes the function to return the specification’s default value.

xdg_config_dirs() and xdg_data_dirs() return a list of pathlib.Path objects containing the values from the colon-separated environment variables XDG_CONFIG_DIRS and XDG_DATA_DIRS respectively. These variables define search paths where multiple directories can be specified. When parsing the colon-separated values, relative paths are filtered out entirely. If the environment variable is unset, empty, or contains only relative paths, the specification’s default list is returned instead.

xdg_runtime_dir() returns a pathlib.Path object containing the value of the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR environment variable, or None if the environment variable is not set or contains a relative path. Unlike the other functions, this returns None rather than a default path because the XDG specification requires this directory to be provided by the system runtime environment.

All returned paths are used exactly as specified in the environment variables or defaults, without additional normalisation or resolution of symbolic links. This preserves the original paths as intended by the system configuration.

Copyright

xdg-base-dirs is distributed under the terms of the ISC license.