Find system folder locations in Python

Question

I am trying to find out the location of system folders with Python 3.1. For example "My Documents" = "C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents", "Program Files" = "C:\Program Files" etc etc.

Answer 1

I found a slightly different way of doing it. This way will give you the location of various system folders and uses real words instead of CLSIDs.

import win32com.client
objShell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
allUserDocs = objShell.SpecialFolders("AllUsersDesktop")
print allUserDocs

Other available folders: AllUsersDesktop, AllUsersStartMenu, AllUsersPrograms, AllUsersStartup, Desktop, Favorites, Fonts, MyDocuments, NetHood, PrintHood, Recent, SendTo, StartMenu, Startup & Templates

Answer 2

In Windows 7 I can use the following environment variables to access the folders I need:

>>> import os
>>> os.environ['USERPROFILE']
'C:\\Users\\digginc'
>>> os.environ['PROGRAMFILES']
'C:\\Program Files'