Get current working directory in a Qt application

Question

I m writing a program in C   using the Qt library  There is a symbolic link in my home bin directory to the executable  I would like the current working directory of my program to be the directory in which I am with my terminal  ie  the result of the pwd command   I saw the QDir  currentPath   function  but it gives back the directory where the binary is   How can I find my current working directory

User · Answer

To add on to KaZ answer   Whenever I am making a QML application I tend to add this to the main c     include  lt QGuiApplication gt   include  lt QQmlApplicationEngine gt   include  lt QStandardPaths gt   int main int argc  char  argv      QGuiApplication app argc  argv   QQmlApplicationEngine engine      get the applications dir path and expose it to QML   QUrl appPath QString   1   arg app applicationDirPath      engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  appPath   appPath        Get the QStandardPaths home location and expose it to QML  QUrl userPath     const QStringList usersLocation   QStandardPaths  standardLocations QStandardPaths  HomeLocation      if  usersLocation isEmpty           userPath   appPath resolved QUrl   home         else       userPath   QString   1   arg usersLocation first        engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  userPath   userPath       QUrl imagePath        const QStringList picturesLocation   QStandardPaths  standardLocations QStandardPaths  PicturesLocation         if  picturesLocation isEmpty              imagePath   appPath resolved QUrl  images           else           imagePath   QString   1   arg picturesLocation first           engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  imagePath   imagePath          QUrl videoPath        const QStringList moviesLocation   QStandardPaths  standardLocations QStandardPaths  MoviesLocation         if  moviesLocation isEmpty              videoPath   appPath resolved QUrl               else           videoPath   QString   1   arg moviesLocation first           engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  videoPath   videoPath          QUrl homePath        const QStringList homesLocation   QStandardPaths  standardLocations QStandardPaths  HomeLocation         if  homesLocation isEmpty              homePath   appPath resolved QUrl              else           homePath   QString   1   arg homesLocation first           engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  homePath   homePath          QUrl desktopPath        const QStringList desktopsLocation   QStandardPaths  standardLocations QStandardPaths  DesktopLocation         if  desktopsLocation isEmpty              desktopPath   appPath resolved QUrl              else           desktopPath   QString   1   arg desktopsLocation first           engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  desktopPath   desktopPath          QUrl docPath        const QStringList docsLocation   QStandardPaths  standardLocations QStandardPaths  DocumentsLocation         if  docsLocation isEmpty              docPath   appPath resolved QUrl              else           docPath   QString   1   arg docsLocation first           engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  docPath   docPath           QUrl tempPath        const QStringList tempsLocation   QStandardPaths  standardLocations QStandardPaths  TempLocation         if  tempsLocation isEmpty              tempPath   appPath resolved QUrl              else           tempPath   QString   1   arg tempsLocation first           engine rootContext  - gt setContextProperty  tempPath   tempPath   engine load QUrl QStringLiteral  qrc  main qml      return app exec        Using it in QML                              Text  text  This is the applications path      appPath     nThis is the users home directory      homePath     nThis is the Desktop path    desktopPath

User · Answer

Thank you RedX and Kaz for your answers  I don t get why by me it gives the path of the exe  I found an other way to do it     QString pwd      char   PWD  PWD   getenv   PWD    pwd append PWD   cout  lt  lt   Working directory      lt  lt  pwd  lt  lt  flush    It is less elegant than a single line    but it works for me

User · Answer

I m running Qt 5 5 under Windows and the default constructor of QDir appears to pick up the current working directory  not the application directory   I m not sure if the getenv PWD will work cross-platform and I think it is set to the current working directory when the shell launched the application and doesn t include any working directory changes done by the app itself  which might be why the OP is seeing this behavior    So I thought I d add some other ways that should give you the current working directory  not the application s binary location       using where a relative filename will end up QFileInfo fi  temp    cout  lt  lt  fi absolutePath    lt  lt  endl      explicitly using the relative name of the current working directory QDir dir       cout  lt  lt  dir absolutePath    lt  lt  endl

User · Answer

Just tested and QDir  currentPath   does return the path from which I called my executable   And a symlink does not  exist   If you are executing an exe from that path you are effectively executing it from the path the symlink points to

User · Answer

Have you tried QCoreApplication  applicationDirPath    qDebug    lt  lt   App path      lt  lt  qApp- gt applicationDirPath

[c++] Get current working directory in a Qt application

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