Get the working directory and a file’s parent in Python

Use Path.cwd() or os.getcwd() for the current working directory. Use Path(path).parent or os.path.dirname(path) for a path's parent. These answer different questions from locating the source file of the current module.

Read the working directory

import os
from pathlib import Path

print(os.getcwd())
print(Path.cwd())

This is the process's current directory at the time of the call. It can differ from its startup directory if code calls os.chdir(). Relative paths are interpreted from this directory, not automatically from the directory containing the script.

Get a path's parent

import os
from pathlib import Path

file_path = "/path/to/file.txt"
print(os.path.dirname(file_path))   # /path/to
print(Path(file_path).parent)       # /path/to
print(Path(file_path).parent.parent)  # /path

These operations can work lexically without proving that the path exists. Path("a/b.txt").parent is Path("a"); for a simple filename, pathlib returns Path("."), while os.path.dirname("b.txt") returns an empty string.

Locate a module on disk

In an ordinary file-backed Python module:

from pathlib import Path

BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
config_path = BASE_DIR / "settings.json"

resolve() makes the path absolute and follows symlinks. If you need the directory of a symlink used to invoke a script rather than its resolved target, choose a different path policy. __file__ is not guaranteed for every execution environment or module type.

For data shipped inside an installed package, importlib.resources is often more appropriate than assuming every resource is an ordinary adjacent disk file. A package may be loaded from a zip archive or another supported loader.

FAQ

Should I make a relative path absolute first? Do so when you need an absolute location. os.path.abspath() anchors it to the current working directory; Path.resolve() also resolves symlinks and removes .. components. Pick the semantics you intend rather than treating the methods as identical.

Which path interface should I use? pathlib offers readable object operations such as Path("/a") / "b" / "c.txt". os.path remains useful in existing string-based code. Both require attention to the operating system's path conventions.

What about a notebook with no file? Path.cwd() gives the kernel's working directory. It does not necessarily reveal the notebook document's saved location. Supply a project/data path explicitly when that distinction matters.

References

• pathlib documentation
• os documentation
• importlib.resources documentation