@folder/xdg

Get cross-platform XDG Base Directories or their equivalents. Works with Linux, Windows (win32), or MacOS (darwin).

Please consider following this project's author, Jon Schlinkert, and consider starring the project to show your :heart: and support.

Install

Install with npm:

$ npm install --save @folder/xdg

Usage

Add the following line of code to your Node.js application:

const xdg = require('@folder/xdg');

The main export is a function that may be called with an options object:

const dirs = xdg(/* options */);
console.log(dirs);

/* This output is on MacOS, see examples for Linux and Windows below */
console.log(dirs.config); // => '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences'
console.log(dirs.cache); // => '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches'
console.log(dirs.data); // => '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support'

See example output by platform.

Options

<details> <summary><strong>Click to see all available options</strong></summary> <br> The following options are available for customizing behavior and/or testing behavior.

| Option | Type | Description | Default Value | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | cachedir | string | Override the default cachedir | Platform specific, see below | | configdir | string | Override the default configdir | | | datadir | string | Override the default datadir | | | env | object | The env object to use for getting paths. | process.env | | expanded | boolean | Expand paths into an object. See the Expanded Paths example for more details. | undefined | | homedir | string | The user's home directory. | os.homedir() | | platform | string | The platform to use: darwin, linux, win32 | process.platform | | resolve | function | Custom function for resolving paths to each directory. The default function attempts to respect casing in the user's existing directories. | undefined | | runtimedir | string | Override the default runtimedir | | | subdir | string | A sub-directory to join to the path, typically the name of your application. This path is joined differently on each platform. See examples. | xdg | | tempdir | string | The temp directory to use. | os.tmpdir() |

See examples below.

</details>

Examples

<details> <summary><strong>Click to see example for platform-specific paths</strong></summary> <br> Get paths for a specific platform. <br>

console.log(xdg.darwin());
console.log(xdg.linux());
console.log(xdg.win32());
// or, if you want "expanded" paths (see the "expanded paths" example)
console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, platform: 'darwin' }));
console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, platform: 'linux' }));
console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, platform: 'win32' }));

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Click to see example with no options</strong></summary> <br> The following examples show what the paths look like when no options are passed. <br>

console.log(xdg());

MacOS (darwin)

{
  cache: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches/xdg',
  config: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/xdg',
  configdirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/xdg', '/etc/xdg' ],
  data: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/xdg',
  datadirs: [
    '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/xdg',
    '/usr/local/share/',
    '/usr/share/'
  ],
  runtime: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/xdg'
}

Linux

{
  cache: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.cache/xdg',
  config: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/xdg',
  configdirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/xdg', '/etc/xdg' ],
  data: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/xdg',
  datadirs: [
    '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/xdg',
    '/usr/local/share/',
    '/usr/share/'
  ],
  runtime: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/xdg'
}

Windows (win32)

{
  cache: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/xdg/Cache',
  config: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/xdg/Config',
  configdirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/xdg/Config' ],
  data: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/xdg/Data',
  datadirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/xdg/Data' ],
  runtime: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/xdg'
}

</details> <details> <summary><strong>Click to see "expanded" paths example</strong></summary> <br> Running the following example returns an object with "expanded" paths, where `config` and `configdirs` are converted to `config.home` and `config.dirs`, etc. Additionally, `cwd`, `home` and `temp` paths are added for convenience. <br>

console.log(xdg({ expanded: true, subdir: 'FooBar' }));

Extra directories

Note that the expanded object includes four additional path properties for convenience:

• cwd - set via options.cwd or process.cwd()
• home - set via options.homedir or os.homedir()
• temp - set via options.tempdir or os.tmpdir()
• cache.logs - set at path.join(cachedir, 'logs')

MacOS (darwin)

{
  cwd: '/Users/jonschlinkert/dev/@folder/xdg',
  home: '/Users/jonschlinkert',
  temp: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T',
  cache: { 
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches/FooBar',
    logs: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Caches/FooBar/Logs' 
  },
  config: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/FooBar',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Preferences/FooBar', '/etc/FooBar' ]
  },
  data: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/FooBar',
    dirs: [
      '/Users/jonschlinkert/Library/Application Support/FooBar',
      '/usr/local/share/',
      '/usr/share/'
    ]
  },
  runtime: { home: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/FooBar' }
}

Linux

{
  cwd: '/Users/jonschlinkert/dev/@folder/xdg',
  home: '/Users/jonschlinkert',
  temp: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T',
  cache: { 
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.cache/FooBar',
    logs: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.cache/FooBar/Logs'
  },
  config: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/FooBar',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/.config/FooBar', '/etc/FooBar' ]
  },
  data: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/FooBar',
    dirs: [
      '/Users/jonschlinkert/.local/share/FooBar',
      '/usr/local/share/',
      '/usr/share/'
    ]
  },
  runtime: { home: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/FooBar' }
}

Windows (win32)

{
  cwd: '/Users/jonschlinkert/dev/@folder/xdg',
  home: '/Users/jonschlinkert',
  temp: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T',
  cache: { 
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Cache',
    logs: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Cache/Logs'
  },
  config: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/FooBar/Config',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Roaming/FooBar/Config' ]
  },
  data: {
    home: '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Data',
    dirs: [ '/Users/jonschlinkert/AppData/Local/FooBar/Data' ]
  },
  runtime: { home: '/var/folders/vd/53h736bj0_sg9gk04c89k0pr0000gq/T/FooBar' }
}

</details>

API

Aside from the main export, xdg(), several platform-specific methods are exposed to simplify getting paths for specific platforms. Note that you can accomplish the same thing by passing the platform on the options to the main export, e.g. { platform: 'linux' }.

The main export, and each method, returns an object with the following properties (see the XDG Base Directories docs below for more details on how each property is set):

• cache
• config
• configdirs
• data
• datadirs
• runtime

Main Export

xdg

Get the XDG Base Directory paths for Linux, or equivalent paths for Windows or MaxOS.

Params

• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths for the current platform.

.darwin

Get XDG equivalent paths for MacOS. Used by the main export when process.platform is darwin. Aliased as xdg.macos().

Params

• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.

Example

const dirs = xdg.darwin();
// or
const dirs = xdg.macos();

.linux

Get XDG equivalent paths for Linux. Used by the main export when process.platform is linux.

• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.

Example

const dirs = xdg.linux();

.win32

Get XDG equivalent paths for MacOS. Used by the main export when process.platform is win32. Aliased as xdg.windows().

Params

• options {Object}
• returns {Object}: Returns an object of paths.

Example

const dirs = xdg.win32();
// or
const dirs = xdg.windows();

XDG Base Directories

This documentation is from the Arch Linux XDG Base Directory docs.

User directories

• XDG_CONFIG_HOME

  • Where user-specific configurations should be written (analogous to /etc).
  • Should default to $HOME/.config.

• XDG_CACHE_HOME

  • Where user-specific non-essential (cached) data should be written (analogous to /var/cache).
  • Should default to $HOME/.cache.

• XDG_DATA_HOME

  • Where user-specific data files should be written (analogou