How do I get the full path of the current file's directory?

I want to get the current file's directory path. I tried:

>>> os.path.abspath(__file__)
'C:\\python27\\test.py'

But how can I retrieve the directory's path?

For example:

'C:\\python27\\'

The special variable __file__ contains the path to the current file. From that we can get the directory using either Pathlib or the os.path module.

Python 3

For the directory of the script being run:

import pathlib
pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.resolve()

For the current working directory:

import pathlib
pathlib.Path().resolve()

Python 2 and 3

For the directory of the script being run:

import os
os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

If you mean the current working directory:

import os
os.path.abspath(os.getcwd())

Note that before and after file is two underscores, not just one.

Also note that if you are running interactively or have loaded code from something other than a file (eg: a database or online resource), __file__ may not be set since there is no notion of "current file". The above answer assumes the most common scenario of running a python script that is in a file.

References

1. pathlib in the python documentation.
2. os.path - Python 2.7, os.path - Python 3
3. os.getcwd - Python 2.7, os.getcwd - Python 3
4. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9271464/what-does-the-file-variable-mean-do

Using Path is the recommended way since Python 3:

from pathlib import Path
print("File      Path:", Path(__file__).absolute())
print("Directory Path:", Path().absolute()) # Directory of current working directory, not __file__  

Documentation: pathlib

Note: If using Jupyter Notebook, __file__ doesn't return expected value, so Path().absolute() has to be used.

In Python 3.x I do:

from pathlib import Path

path = Path(__file__).parent.absolute()

Explanation:

• Path(__file__) is the path to the current file.
• .parent gives you the directory the file is in.
• .absolute() gives you the full absolute path to it.

Using pathlib is the modern way to work with paths. If you need it as a string later for some reason, just do str(path).

Try this:

import os
dir_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))

import os
print os.path.dirname(__file__)

I found the following commands return the full path of the parent directory of a Python 3 script.

Python 3 Script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

from pathlib import Path

#Get the absolute path of a Python3.6 and above script.
dir1 = Path().resolve()  #Make the path absolute, resolving any symlinks.
dir2 = Path().absolute() #See @RonKalian answer 
dir3 = Path(__file__).parent.absolute() #See @Arminius answer
dir4 = Path(__file__).parent 

print(f'dir1={dir1}\ndir2={dir2}\ndir3={dir3}\ndir4={dir4}')

REMARKS !!!!

1. dir1 and dir2 works only when running a script located in the current working directory, but will break in any other case.
2. Given that Path(__file__).is_absolute() is True, the use of the .absolute() method in dir3 appears redundant.
3. The shortest command that works is dir4.

Explanation links: .resolve(), .absolute(), Path(file).parent().absolute()

IPython has a magic command %pwd to get the present working directory. It can be used in following way:

from IPython.terminal.embed import InteractiveShellEmbed

ip_shell = InteractiveShellEmbed()

present_working_directory = ip_shell.magic("%pwd")

On IPython Jupyter Notebook %pwd can be used directly as following:

present_working_directory = %pwd

I have made a function to use when running python under IIS in CGI in order to get the current folder:

import os 
def getLocalFolder():
    path=str(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))).split(os.sep)
    return path[len(path)-1]

USEFUL PATH PROPERTIES IN PYTHON:

 from pathlib import Path
    
    #Returns the path of the directory, where your script file is placed
    mypath = Path().absolute()
    print('Absolute path : {}'.format(mypath))
    
    #if you want to go to any other file inside the subdirectories of the directory path got from above method
    filePath = mypath/'data'/'fuel_econ.csv'
    print('File path : {}'.format(filePath))
    
    #To check if file present in that directory or Not
    isfileExist = filePath.exists()
    print('isfileExist : {}'.format(isfileExist))
    
    #To check if the path is a directory or a File
    isadirectory = filePath.is_dir()
    print('isadirectory : {}'.format(isadirectory))
    
    #To get the extension of the file
    fileExtension = mypath/'data'/'fuel_econ.csv'
    print('File extension : {}'.format(filePath.suffix))

OUTPUT: ABSOLUTE PATH IS THE PATH WHERE YOUR PYTHON FILE IS PLACED

Absolute path : D:\Study\Machine Learning\Jupitor Notebook\JupytorNotebookTest2\Udacity_Scripts\Matplotlib and seaborn Part2

File path : D:\Study\Machine Learning\Jupitor Notebook\JupytorNotebookTest2\Udacity_Scripts\Matplotlib and seaborn Part2\data\fuel_econ.csv

isfileExist : True

isadirectory : False

File extension : .csv