How to get initial absolute working dir reliably?

[alex23]

On Sunday, 19 August 2012 01:19:59 UTC+10, kj  wrote:
> What's the most reliable way for "module code" to determine the
> absolute path of the working directory at the start of execution?

Here's some very simple code that relies on the singleton nature of modules that might be enough for your needs:

    import os
    
    _workingdir = None
    
    def set():
        global _workingdir
        _workingdir = os.getcwd()    
    
    def get():
        return _workingdir

At the start of your application, import workingdir and do a workingdir.set(). Then when you need to retrieve it, import it again and use workingdir.get():

    a.py:
    import workingdir
    workingdir.set()

    b.py:
    import workingdir
    print workingdir.get()

    test.py:
    import a
    import b

You could also remove the need to call the .set() by implicitly assigning on the first import:

    if '_workingdir' not in locals():
        _workingdir = os.getcwd()

But I like the explicitness.