CaveOps | Post: OS X: How to get the path of Home directory

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We all know that NSHomeDirectory() is retuning the sandbox root (not the home directory), [@"~" stringByExpandingTildeInPath] is doing the same thing.

This /Users/username/Library/Containers/appID/Data is what's being returned.

The only thing its really good for is setting a sane default to the file open/save dialogs. Right now, if we set it to NSHomeDirectory() its not very user friendly. Most people don't even know what the Library folder is.

So, how do we get /Users/username/?

Here's a example:

// MXCocoaHelper.m
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <pwd.h>
#include <assert.h>

NSString * NSRealHomeDirectory(void) {
    struct passwd *pw = getpwuid(getuid());
    assert(pw);
    return [NSString stringWithUTF8String:pw->pw_dir];
}

This gives you the path to the user's home, but does not automatically give you access to that folder. You can use this path for:

Providing a sane default folder for the open/save dialogs
Detecting whether you are in a sandbox, by comparing the result to NSHomeDirectory()