Standard Paths
Standard Paths is a small library which provides cross platform access to the common directories such as AppData,
Desktop or tmp.
Features
- Windows, macOS, Linux and other Unix-like systems
- Follows platform conventions: Known Folders on Windows, XDG Base Directory and
xdg-user-dirson Linux - Application-specific directories
- No dependencies
- JDK 11+ support
Quick Start
// application directories
AppPaths app = StandardPaths.forApp("my-app");
Path config = app.config().orElseThrow(); // ~/.config/my-app, %APPDATA%\my-app\config, ...
Path cache = app.cache().orElseThrow(); // ~/.cache/my-app, %LOCALAPPDATA%\my-app\cache, ...
// common directories
Path downloads = StandardPaths.downloads().orElseThrow();
Optional<Path> runtime = StandardPaths.runtime(); // empty on Windows and macOS
All returned paths are absolute, but directories are not guaranteed to exist.
A method returns an empty Optional if the system has no such directory (e.g. runtime() on Windows) or the path
can’t be determined (e.g. $HOME is not set).
More details can be found in JavaDocs.
Download
Maven:
<dependency>
<groupId>io.github.sanyarnd</groupId>
<artifactId>standard-paths</artifactId>
<version>2.0.0</version>
</dependency>
Gradle:
implementation("io.github.sanyarnd:standard-paths:2.0.0")
Jars are also available in GitHub Packages and on the releases page.
Available paths
| Method | Windows | macOS | Linux |
|—————–|—————————-|————————————-|————————————————–|
| home() | %USERPROFILE% | $HOME | $HOME |
| temp() | GetTempPath | $TMPDIR | $TMPDIR (default: /tmp) |
| cache() | %LOCALAPPDATA% | $HOME/Library/Caches | $XDG_CACHE_HOME (default: $HOME/.cache) |
| config() | %APPDATA% | $HOME/Library/Application Support | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (default: $HOME/.config) |
| data() | %APPDATA% | $HOME/Library/Application Support | $XDG_DATA_HOME (default: $HOME/.local/share) |
| dataLocal() | %LOCALAPPDATA% | $HOME/Library/Application Support | $XDG_DATA_HOME (default: $HOME/.local/share) |
| state() | %LOCALAPPDATA% | $HOME/Library/Application Support | $XDG_STATE_HOME (default: $HOME/.local/state)|
| runtime() | none | none | $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR |
| desktop() | %USERPROFILE%\Desktop | $HOME/Desktop | XDG_DESKTOP_DIR (default: $HOME/Desktop) |
| documents() | %USERPROFILE%\Documents | $HOME/Documents | XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR (default: $HOME/Documents) |
| downloads() | %USERPROFILE%\Downloads | $HOME/Downloads | XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR (default: $HOME/Downloads) |
| music() | %USERPROFILE%\Music | $HOME/Music | XDG_MUSIC_DIR (default: $HOME/Music) |
| pictures() | %USERPROFILE%\Pictures | $HOME/Pictures | XDG_PICTURES_DIR (default: $HOME/Pictures) |
| videos() | %USERPROFILE%\Videos | $HOME/Movies | XDG_VIDEOS_DIR (default: $HOME/Videos) |
| templates() | %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates | none | XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR (default: $HOME/Templates) |
| publicShare() | %PUBLIC% | $HOME/Public | XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR (default: $HOME/Public) |
AppPaths returned by StandardPaths.forApp(name) appends the application name; on Windows it also appends the kind
of the directory (cache, config, data, state), because local and roaming directories are shared.
Windows user directories are read from the registry (User Shell Folders, via reg.exe, once per JVM), so moved
folders are supported. Linux user directories are read from the environment and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/user-dirs.dirs.
Building
Requires JDK 25:
./gradlew build
./gradlew spotlessApply
Releasing
Pushing a tag like 2.0.0 publishes to Maven Central and GitHub Packages, creates a GitHub release
and updates the site.
Secrets: MAVEN_CENTRAL_USERNAME, MAVEN_CENTRAL_PASSWORD (Central Portal token),
GPG_PRIVATE_KEY, GPG_KEY_PASSPHRASE.
Changelog
See CHANGELOG.md.