Default working directory for Python IDLE?

Question

Is there a configuration file where I can set its default working directory? It currently defaults to my home directory, but I want to set it to another directory when it starts. I know I can do "import os" followed by "os.chdir("")" but that's kind of troublesome. It'd be great if there is a conf file that I can edit and change that setting, but I am unable to find it.

In particular, I've looked into my OS (Ubuntu)'s desktop entry '/usr/share/applications/idle-python3.2.desktop', which doesn't contain a conf file, but points to '/usr/lib/python3.2/idlelib/PyShell.py', which points to config-*.def conf files under the same folder, with 'config-main.def' being the most likely candidate. However I am unable to find where the default path is specified or how it can be changed.

It seems that the path is hard-coded in PyShell.py, though I could be wrong with my limited knowledge on Python. I will keep looking, but would appreciate it if somebody knows the answer on top of his or her head. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

All I had to do here (Linux Mint 18.2 Xfce) ...

Just add path in line "working directory" = "Arbeitsverzeichnis"

Answer 2

I actually just discovered the easiest answer, if you use the shortcut link labeled "IDLE (Python GUI)". This is in Windows Vista, so I don't know if it'll work in other OS's.

1) Right-click "Properties".

2) Select "Shortcut" tab.

3) In "Start In", write file path (e.g. "C:\Users...").

This is also my answer here: Default save path for Python IDLE? Let me know if this works!

Answer 3

It can change depending on where you installed Python. Open up IDLE, import os, then call os.getcwd() and that should tell you exactly where your IDLE is working on.

Answer 4

Just use a shell script such as:

#!/bin/bash
cd /Users/pu/Projects/L-Python
/usr/bin/idle

and run that instead of stock idle. The example is on OS X, adapt to your system.

Answer 5

One default path is specified in idlelib.IOBinding.IOBinding.dirname or idlelib.IOBinding.IOBinding.filename

Ubuntu

So my idle-python3.desktop file in /usr/share/applications looks like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=IDLE (using Python-3)
Comment=Integrated Development Environment for Python (using Python-3)
Exec=python3 -c "import idlelib.IOBinding, os; idlelib.IOBinding.IOBinding.dirname='/DEFAULT/DIRECTORY';import idlelib.idle"
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/python3.xpm
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Development;
StartupNotify=true

To use it you need to set /DEFAULT/DIRECTORY to your desired directory, copy it with root rights into /usr/share/applications. You can also use it for Python 2 but then you need to replace the 3s with 2s.

ConfigFiles
There are also extensions that can be loaded. These must be modules and you specify them by module name. The config files for IDLE are located in HOME/.idlerc and parsed with a configparser. I did not get further with this.

Answer 6

I've found a solution after looking into PyShell.py:

1. Create a python file under a preferred directory, in my case '~/.idlerc/init.py', and copy/paste the following lines:

  import os
  os.chdir('<your preferred directory>')

1. Pass "-r '~/.idlerc/init.py' " argument to the IDLE startup command, like the following (your exec location and name may vary depending on OS, etc):

  /usr/bin/idle-python3.2 -n -r ~/.idlerc/init.py