Node.js - Find home directory in platform agnostic way Node.js - Find home directory in platform agnostic way node.js node.js

Node.js - Find home directory in platform agnostic way


As mentioned in a more recent answer, the preferred way is now simply:

const homedir = require('os').homedir();

[Original Answer]: Why not use the USERPROFILE environment variable on win32?

function getUserHome() {  return process.env[(process.platform == 'win32') ? 'USERPROFILE' : 'HOME'];}


os.homedir() was added by this PR and is part of the public 4.0.0 release of nodejs.


Example usage:

const os = require('os');console.log(os.homedir());


Well, it would be more accurate to rely on the feature and not a variable value. Especially as there are 2 possible variables for Windows.

function getUserHome() {  return process.env.HOME || process.env.USERPROFILE;}

EDIT: as mentioned in a more recent answer, https://stackoverflow.com/a/32556337/103396 is the right way to go (require('os').homedir()).