FcConfigHome(3)

💖 FcConfigHome(3) — your girl's guide to finding out where home is at 🏠✨

okay so real talk, this one's a tiny little fontconfig baddie and she's in section 3 of the manual, FcConfigHome(3) if you're keeping track, and honestly? she's short, she's sweet, she ate 💅

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🌸 NAME 🌸

FcConfigHome — returns the current home directory. that's it. that's the whole gig. no cap 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <fontconfig/fontconfig.h>

FcChar8 * FcConfigHome (void);

look at her 🥹 no arguments, takes nothing, gives everything (well, gives you a pointer, which might be NULL, more on that in a sec bestie)

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea ☕ — FcConfigHome returns the current user's home directory, if it's available, and if using it is enabled. two vibe checks have to pass, basically:

• is the home directory actually available? ✅
• is using it enabled? ✅

if both of those are yes, you get the home directory. slay 🎉

and if not? it returns NULL. 😭 yep. NULL. so like, please check before you dereference, i'm literally begging 🫶

🚨 also peep: it says NULL otherwise, meaning anything that isn't "available AND enabled" = NULL. don't assume you're getting a path just because you asked nicely.

ooh and also — see also FcConfigEnableHome 💜 (that's the one that handles the "is using it enabled" part of the equation, iykyk 👀). the original page has a lil stray ) hanging out at the end of that reference — she's iconic, we keep her, no notes 💀

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🌈 a lil sign-off 🌈

this page came from Fontconfig 2.17.0, dated 27 June 2025 — so like, if you're reading this in your terminal, that's the version and the date, periodt 💅✨ go forth and find your home directory, bestie 🏠💖