(This is the documentation for SDL3, which is the current stable version. SDL2 was the previous version!)

SDL_GetBasePath

Get the directory where the application was run from.

Header File

Syntax

const char * SDL_GetBasePath(void);

Return Value

(const char *) Returns an absolute path in UTF-8 encoding to the application data directory. NULL will be returned on error or when the platform doesn't implement this functionality, call SDL_GetError() for more information.

Remarks

SDL caches the result of this call internally, but the first call to this function is not necessarily fast, so plan accordingly.

macOS and iOS Specific Functionality: If the application is in a ".app" bundle, this function returns the Resource directory (e.g. MyApp.app/Contents/Resources/). This behaviour can be overridden by adding a property to the Info.plist file. Adding a string key with the name SDL_FILESYSTEM_BASE_DIR_TYPE with a supported value will change the behaviour.

Supported values for the SDL_FILESYSTEM_BASE_DIR_TYPE property (Given an application in /Applications/SDLApp/MyApp.app):

resource: bundle resource directory (the default). For example: /Applications/SDLApp/MyApp.app/Contents/Resources
bundle: the Bundle directory. For example: /Applications/SDLApp/MyApp.app/
parent: the containing directory of the bundle. For example: /Applications/SDLApp/

Nintendo 3DS Specific Functionality: This function returns "romfs" directory of the application as it is uncommon to store resources outside the executable. As such it is not a writable directory.

The returned path is guaranteed to end with a path separator ('\' on Windows, '/' on most other platforms).

Version

This function is available since SDL 3.1.3.