# File.expand\_path and ~ on windows
**URL:** https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134
**Category:** ruby-talk
**Created:** [18 September 2003 16:34 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134 "2003-09-18T16:34:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Alan\_Davies1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Alan_Davies1)
#### Post date: [18 September 2003 16:34 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/1 "2003-09-18T16:34:53Z")
From the pickaxe book…
> File.expand\_path( fileName [, aDirString] ) → fileName
>
> The given pathname may start with a ``~‘’, which expands to the
> process owner’s home directory (the environment variable HOME must be
> set correctly). “~ user” expands to the named user’s home directory"
This isn’t relevant on windows. Thus:
File.expand\_path(“~foo”, “c:/somedir”) → “~foo”
where in fact it should return “c:/somedir/~foo”.
Also:
File.expand\_path(“~”, “c:/somedir”)
throws up the error “`expand_path': couldn't find HOME environment -- expanding `~’ (ArgumentError)”
It seems strange that the first example doesn’t throw up the same error
that the second one does.
Can this functionality be disbaled on windows platforms in a future
version? Or at least add a parameter to the function call to disable it?
Alan.
---
### Author:  [@Nucleon](https://rubytalk.org/u/Nucleon)
#### Post date: [19 September 2003 02:36 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/2 "2003-09-19T02:36:28Z")
Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand it to My Documents (C:\Documents and
Settings\Username\My Documents on WinXP)? I suppose it would be
worthwhile to be able to disable it, though.
> **···**
>
> On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 17:16:00 +0100, Alan Davies wrote:
>
> > From the pickaxe book…
> >
> > > File.expand\_path( fileName [, aDirString] ) → fileName
> > >
> > > The given pathname may start with a ``~‘’, which expands to the
> > > process owner’s home directory (the environment variable HOME must be
> > > set correctly). “~ user” expands to the named user’s home directory"
> >
> > This isn’t relevant on windows. Thus:
>
> –
> Tom Felker, [tcfelker@mtco.com](mailto:tcfelker@mtco.com)
> [http://vlevel.sourceforge.net](http://vlevel.sourceforge.net) - Stop fiddling with the volume knob.
>
> You both prefer a universe in which the other party hasn’t magically
> disappeared. I think we have a framework for peace.
---
### Author:  [@Austin\_Ziegler2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Austin_Ziegler2)
#### Post date: [19 September 2003 03:14 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/3 "2003-09-19T03:14:32Z")
No. ~ has no meaning to Windows shells. There are times when I wish that it
didn’t to Unix shells. After all, that’s what ${HOME} is for.
-austin
> **···**
>
> On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 11:36:28 +0900, Tom Felker wrote:
>
> > Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand it to My Documents (C:\Documents
> > and Settings\Username\My Documents on WinXP)? I suppose it would be
> > worthwhile to be able to disable it, though.
>
> –
> austin ziegler \* austin@halostatue.ca \* Toronto, ON, Canada
> software designer \* pragmatic programmer \* 2003.09.18
> \* 23.12.23
---
### Author:  [@\_Sean\_O\_Dell](https://rubytalk.org/u/_Sean_O_Dell)
#### Post date: [19 September 2003 16:18 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/4 "2003-09-19T16:18:33Z")
Tom Felker wrote:
> **···**
>
> > On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 17:16:00 +0100, Alan Davies wrote:
> >
> > > From the pickaxe book…
> > >
> > > > File.expand\_path( fileName [, aDirString] ) → fileName
> > > >
> > > > The given pathname may start with a ``~‘’, which expands to the
> > > > process owner’s home directory (the environment variable HOME must be
> > > > set correctly). “~ user” expands to the named user’s home directory"
> > >
> > > This isn’t relevant on windows. Thus:
> >
> > Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand it to My Documents (C:\Documents and
> > Settings\Username\My Documents on WinXP)? I suppose it would be
> > worthwhile to be able to disable it, though.
>
> Actually, I think it should just expand to C:\Documents and
> Settings\UserName and you can append the rest from there. That’s the
> \*nix equivalent pretty much.
>
> ```
> Sean O'Dell
>
> ```
---
### Author:  [@\_Sean\_O\_Dell](https://rubytalk.org/u/_Sean_O_Dell)
#### Post date: [19 September 2003 16:18 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/5 "2003-09-19T16:18:35Z")
Austin Ziegler wrote:
> **···**
>
> > On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 11:36:28 +0900, Tom Felker wrote:
> >
> > > Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand it to My Documents (C:\Documents
> > > and Settings\Username\My Documents on WinXP)? I suppose it would be
> > > worthwhile to be able to disable it, though.
> >
> > No. ~ has no meaning to Windows shells. There are times when I wish that it
> > didn’t to Unix shells. After all, that’s what ${HOME} is for.
>
> This is true; but I think for portability reasons, since [COMMAND.COM](http://COMMAND.COM)
> isn’t exactly what I would call a culture of shell idioms, ~ and ${HOME}
> (%HOME%) should be considered synonymous. If not ~, then at least
> ${HOME} ought to point to C:\Documents and Settings\UserName I think.
>
> ```
> Sean O'Dell
>
> ```
---
### Author:  [@Alan\_Davies1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Alan_Davies1)
#### Post date: [22 September 2003 16:30 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/6 "2003-09-22T16:30:22Z")
Sean O’Dell wrote:
> Tom Felker wrote:
>
> > > From the pickaxe book…
> > >
> > > > File.expand\_path( fileName [, aDirString] ) → fileName
> > > >
> > > > The given pathname may start with a ``~‘’, which expands to the
> > > > process owner’s home directory (the environment variable HOME must be
> > > > set correctly). “~ user” expands to the named user’s home directory"
> > >
> > > This isn’t relevant on windows. Thus:
> >
> > Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand it to My Documents (C:\Documents
> > and
> > Settings\Username\My Documents on WinXP)? I suppose it would be
> > worthwhile to be able to disable it, though.
>
> Actually, I think it should just expand to C:\Documents and
> Settings\UserName and you can append the rest from there. That’s the
> \*nix equivalent pretty much.
>
> ```
> Sean O'Dell
>
> ```
Some interesting points being made on this thread, but the problem I had
was that I has a files beginning with ~ in my temp folder. Using
expand\_path to get the full path of these files failed. If it expanded
it to user directories, then it woulod be returning incrrect path names,
simply because ~ has no meaning on windows.
If I have a file called ~foo in a dir called “c:/somedir”, then I would
expand\_path to return “c:/somedir/~foo”, not “C:/Documents and Settings/foo”
Alan.
> **···**
>
> > > On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 17:16:00 +0100, Alan Davies wrote:
---
### Author:  [@Austin\_Ziegler2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Austin_Ziegler2)
#### Post date: [19 September 2003 17:27 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/7 "2003-09-19T17:27:39Z")
That’s a no fly zone, as far as I’m concerned. My %HOME% is not the same as
my %USERPROFILE%. Further, ~foo is a valid filename on Windows. (It’s valid
in Unix, too, but you have to do ~foo to get it to work from the shell.)
I’d like to see Ruby handle this right on each platform.
-austin
> **···**
>
> On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 01:18:35 +0900, Sean O’Dell wrote:
>
> > Austin Ziegler wrote:
> >
> > > On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 11:36:28 +0900, Tom Felker wrote:
> > >
> > > > Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand it to My Documents
> > > > (C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents on WinXP)? I
> > > > suppose it would be worthwhile to be able to disable it, though.
> > > > No. ~ has no meaning to Windows shells. There are times when I wish
> > > > that it didn’t to Unix shells. After all, that’s what ${HOME} is for.
> > > > This is true; but I think for portability reasons, since [COMMAND.COM](http://COMMAND.COM)
> > > > isn’t exactly what I would call a culture of shell idioms, ~ and ${HOME}
> > > > (%HOME%) should be considered synonymous. If not ~, then at least
> > > > ${HOME} ought to point to C:\Documents and Settings\UserName I think.
>
> –
> austin ziegler \* austin@halostatue.ca \* Toronto, ON, Canada
> software designer \* pragmatic programmer \* 2003.09.19
> \* 13.23.38
---
### Author:  [@Gavin\_Sinclair](https://rubytalk.org/u/Gavin_Sinclair)
#### Post date: [20 September 2003 00:57 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-expand-path-and-on-windows/8134/8 "2003-09-20T00:57:40Z")
I use Windows, and choose to set HOME to D:/home/gavin, so that
Windows and Cygwin can be in agreement. Certain Windows programs will
make use of any %HOME% setting.
Gavin
> **···**
>
> On Saturday, September 20, 2003, 2:18:35 AM, Sean wrote:
>
> > Austin Ziegler wrote:
>
> > > On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 11:36:28 +0900, Tom Felker wrote:
> > >
> > > > Wouldn’t it make more sense to expand it to My Documents (C:\Documents
> > > > and Settings\Username\My Documents on WinXP)? I suppose it would be
> > > > worthwhile to be able to disable it, though.
> > >
> > > No. ~ has no meaning to Windows shells. There are times when I wish that it
> > > didn’t to Unix shells. After all, that’s what ${HOME} is for.
>
> > This is true; but I think for portability reasons, since [COMMAND.COM](http://COMMAND.COM)
> > isn’t exactly what I would call a culture of shell idioms, ~ and ${HOME}
> > (%HOME%) should be considered synonymous. If not ~, then at least
> > ${HOME} ought to point to C:\Documents and Settings\UserName I think.