#pragma section-numbers off
#pragma camelcase off

= SDL_GetBasePath =
Use this function to get the directory where the application was run from.  This is where the application data directory is.

<<TableOfContents()>>

== Syntax ==
{{{#!highlight cpp
char* SDL_GetBasePath(void)
}}}

== Return Value ==
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.

The return path will be guaranteed to end with a path separator ('\' on Windows, '/' on most other platforms)

The pointer returned is owned by you. Please call SDL_free() on the pointer when you are done with it.

== Code Examples ==
{{{#!highlight cpp

char *data_path = NULL;

void InitializeDataPath() {
    char *base_path = SDL_GetBasePath();
    if (base_path) {
        data_path = base_path;
    } else {
        data_path = SDL_strdup("./");
    }
}

}}}


== Remarks ==

This is not necessarily a fast call, though, so you should call this once near startup and save the string if you need it.

'''Mac OS X 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):

||''Value''||''Description''||''Example returned path''||
||'''resource'''||the bundle resource directory (the default)||/Applications/SDLApp/MyApp.app/Contents/Resources||
||'''bundle'''||the Bundle directory||/Applications/SDLApp/MyApp.app/||
||'''parent'''||the containing directory of the bundle||/Applications/SDLApp/||

== Version ==
This function is available since SDL 2.0.1.

== Related Functions ==
 .[[SDL_GetPrefPath]]

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[[CategoryAPI]], [[CategoryFilesystem]]