How to Get Current Working Directory in Python 3

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to get current working directory in the Python 3 programming language.

In Python 3 we can get the current working directory using os.getcwd() function. The getcwd() function is part of the os module, so first of all, we need to import the python 3 os module.

import os

Then we can use the os.getcwd() function to print the working directory.

import os
print(os.getcwd())

The above code will print the location where your python script is currently running.

Also, we can store the current working directory in a variable instead of printing it straight away.

import os

cwd = os.getcwd()
print(cwd)

Change Working Directory in Python 3

To change the working directory in python 3, we use the os.chdir() function (remember, you have to import the os module first).

os.chdir(path)

Example 1

import os

os.chdir("/etc")
print(os.getcwd())

os.chdir("/var/log")
print(os.getcwd())

Above Example will output the following:

/etc
/var/log

Example 2 : Microsoft Windows

import os

os.chdir("C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc")
print(os.getcwd())

The above Python code will output following in microsoft Windows:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

Python getcwd() function can be used in both Linux and Windows operating systems to get current working directory.

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