An Alternative To Os.path.expanduser("~")?

In python 2.7.x, os.path.expanduser('~') is broken for Unicode. This means that you get an exception if the expansion of '~' has non-ascii characters in it. http://bugs.python.org/

Solution 1:

The bug report you link to includes a workaround script, which retrieves the relevant home directory information directly from the Win32 API:

import ctypes
from ctypes import windll, wintypes

classGUID(ctypes.Structure):
    _fields_ = [
         ('Data1', wintypes.DWORD),
         ('Data2', wintypes.WORD),
         ('Data3', wintypes.WORD),
         ('Data4', wintypes.BYTE * 8)
    ]

    def__init__(self, l, w1, w2, b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7, b8):
        """Create a new GUID."""
        self.Data1 = l
        self.Data2 = w1
        self.Data3 = w2
        self.Data4[:] = (b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7, b8)

    def__repr__(self):
        b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7, b8 = self.Data4
        return'GUID(%x-%x-%x-%x%x%x%x%x%x%x%x)' % (
                   self.Data1, self.Data2, self.Data3, b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7, b8)

# constants to be used according to the version on shell32
CSIDL_PROFILE = 40
FOLDERID_Profile = GUID(0x5E6C858F, 0x0E22, 0x4760, 0x9A, 0xFE, 0xEA, 0x33, 0x17, 0xB6, 0x71, 0x73)

defexpand_user():
    # get the function that we can find from Vista up, not the one in XP
    get_folder_path = getattr(windll.shell32, 'SHGetKnownFolderPath', None)
    if get_folder_path isnotNone:
        # ok, we can use the new function which is recomended by the msdn
        ptr = ctypes.c_wchar_p()
        get_folder_path(ctypes.byref(FOLDERID_Profile), 0, 0, ctypes.byref(ptr))
        return ptr.value
    else:
        # use the deprecated one found in XP and on for compatibility reasons
       get_folder_path = getattr(windll.shell32, 'SHGetSpecialFolderPathW', None)
       buf = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(300)
       get_folder_path(None, buf, CSIDL_PROFILE, False)
       return buf.value

This expand_user() function returns the home directory for the current user only.

Solution 2:

As pointed out in the comments you actually need a WinAPI call to obtain the value of the USERPROFILE environment variable:

import ctypes

buf = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(1024)
ctypes.windll.kernel32.GetEnvironmentVariableW(u"USERPROFILE", buf, 1024)
home_dir = buf.value

or, if you prefer the dedicated shell function:

CSIDL_PROFILE = 40
buf = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(1024)
ctypes.windll.shell32.SHGetFolderPathW(None, CSIDL_PROFILE, None, 0, buf)
print buf.value

Note that both snippets return the profile path, this is not necessary the same as home path.