The intended use-case for BaseDirectories is to query the paths of user-invisible standard directories that have been defined according to the conventions of the operating system the library is running on.
If you want to compute the location of cache, config or data folders for your own application or project, use ProjectDirectories instead.
The intended use-case for UserDirectories is to query the paths of user-facing standard directories that have been defined according to the conventions of the operating system the library is running on.
The intended use-case for ProjectDirectories is to compute the location of cache, config or data folders for your own application or project, which are derived from the standard directories.
| Type | Purpose | XDG Environment Variable | Linux / BSD | MacOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | home | HOME | $HOME | $HOME |
| Base | cache | XDG_CACHE_HOME | $XDG_CACHE_HOME or $HOME/.cache | $HOME/Library/Caches |
| Base | config | XDG_CONFIG_HOME | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config | $HOME/Library/Application Support |
| Base | data | XDG_DATA_HOME | $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share | $HOME/Library/Application Support |
| Base | dataLocal | XDG_DATA_HOME | $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share | $HOME/Library/Application Support |
| Base | executable | XDG_BIN_HOME | $XDG_BIN_HOME or $HOME/.local/bin | null |
| Base | preference | XDG_CONFIG_HOME | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config | $HOME/Library/Preferences |
| Base | runtime | XDG_RUNTIME_DIR | $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR or null | null |
| User | audio | XDG_MUSIC_DIR | $XDG_MUSIC_DIR | $HOME/Music |
| User | desktop | XDG_DESKTOP_DIR | $XDG_DESKTOP_DIR | $HOME/Desktop |
| User | document | XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR | $XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR | $HOME/Documents |
| User | download | XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR | $XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR | $HOME/Downloads |
| User | font | XDG_DATA_HOME | $XDG_DATA_HOME/fonts or $HOME/.local/share/fonts | $HOME/Library/Fonts |
| User | picture | XDG_PICTURES_DIR | $XDG_PICTURES_DIR | $HOME/Pictures |
| User | public | XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR | $XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR | $HOME/Public |
| User | template | XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR | $XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR | null |
| User | video | XDG_VIDEOS_DIR | $XDG_VIDEOS_DIR | $HOME/Movies |
| Project | cache | XDG_CACHE_HOME/<project_path> | $XDG_CACHE_HOME or $HOME/.cache/<project_path> | $HOME/Library/Caches/<project_path> |
| Project | config | XDG_CONFIG_HOME/<project_path> | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config/<project_path> | $HOME/Library/Preferences/<project_path> |
| Project | data | XDG_CONFIG_HOME/<project_path> | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config/<project_path> | $HOME/Library/Application Support/<project_path> |
| Project | dataLocal | XDG_DATA_HOME/<project_path> | $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share/<project_path> | $HOME/Library/Application Support/<project_path> |
| Project | preference | XDG_DATA_HOME/<project_path> | $XDG_DATA_HOME or $HOME/.local/share/<project_path> | $HOME/Library/Application Support/<project_path> |
| Project | runtime | XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/<project_path> | $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/<project_path> | null |
Note that several of these environment variables (like
XDG_BIN_HOME) aren't in the spec at all.