In this article, you will learn how to get the current working directory (another name for folder) in Python, which is the equivalent of using the pwd command.

There are a couple of ways to get the current working directory in Python:

  • By using the os module and the os.getcwd() method.
  • By using the pathlib module and the Path.cwd() method.

Let's get started!

How to Get The Current Directory Using the os.getcwd() Method in Python

The os module, which is part of the standard Python library (also known as stdlib), allows you to access and interact with your operating system.

To use the os module in your project, you need to include the following line at the top of your Python file:

import os

Once you have imported the os module, you have access to the os.getcwd() method, which allows you to get the full path of the current working directory.

Let's look at the following example:

import os

# get the current working directory
current_working_directory = os.getcwd()

# print output to the console
print(current_working_directory)

# output will look something similar to this on a macOS system
# /Users/dionysialemonaki/Documents/my-projects/python-project

The output is a string that contains the absolute path to the current working directory – in this case, python-project.

To check the data type of the output, use the type() function like so:

print(type(current_working_directory))

# output

# <class 'str'>

Note that the current working directory doesn't have a trailing forward slash, /.

Keep in mind also that output will vary depending on the directory you are running the Python script from as well as your Operating System.

How to Get The Current Directory Using the Path.cwd() Method in Python

In the previous section, you saw how to use the os module to get the current working directory. However, you can use the pathlib module to achieve the same result.

The pathlib module was introduced in the standard library in Python's 3.4 version and offers an object-oriented way to work with filesystem paths and handle files.

To use the pathlib module, you first need to import it at the top of your Python file:

from pathlib import Path

Once you have imported the pathlib module, you can use the Path.cwd() class method, which allows you to get the current working directory.

Let's look at the following example:

from pathlib import Path

# get the current working directory
current_working_directory = Path.cwd()

# print output to the console
print(current_working_directory)

# output will look something similar to this on a macOS system
# /Users/dionysialemonaki/Documents/my-projects/python-project

As you can see, the output is the same as the output I got when I used the os.getcwd() method. The only difference is the data type of the output:

print(type(current_working_directory))

# output

# <class 'pathlib.PosixPath'>

Conclusion

And there you have it! You now know how to get the full path to the current directory in Python using both the os and pathlib modules.

To learn more about Python, check out freeCodeCamp's Python for beginners course.

Thanks for reading, and happy coding!