What's the working directory when using IDLE?

You can easily check that yourself using os.getcwd:

>>> import os>>> os.getcwd()'C:\\Program Files\\Python33'

That’s on my Windows machine, so it’s probably the installation directory of Python itself.

You can change that directory at runtime using os.chdir:

>>> os.chdir('C:\\Users\\poke\\Desktop\\')>>> os.getcwd()'C:\\Users\\poke\\Desktop'>>> with open('someFile.txt', 'w+') as f:        f.write('This should be at C:\\Users\\poke\\Desktop\\someFile.txt now.')

This will—not surprisingly—create the file on my desktop.

You can check that using os.getcwd():

In [1]: import osIn [2]: os.getcwd()Out[2]: '/home/monty'In [7]: os.chdir("codechef")    #change current working directoryIn [8]: os.getcwd()Out[8]: '/home/monty/codechef'

os.chdir():

In [4]: os.chdir?Type:       builtin_function_or_methodString Form:<built-in function chdir>Docstring:chdir(path)

os.getcwd():

Change the current working directory to the specified path.In [5]: os.getcwd?Type:       builtin_function_or_methodString Form:<built-in function getcwd>Docstring:getcwd() -> pathReturn a string representing the current working directory.

This will depend on OS and how IDLE is executed.

To change the (default) CWD in Windows, right click on the Short-cut Icon, go to "Properties" and change "Start In".