USER-DIRS.DEFAULT(5)

📦
version 0.20 · 13 versions
, in arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

🌸 USER-DIRS.DEFAULT(5) 🌸

ok so real talk, this is the manual page for user-dirs.defaults — yes bestie, the default settings for XDG user dirs. we're in section 5 (file formats, iykyk) and honestly? it's a tiny little file that does a lot. let's get into it 💅

✨ NAME ✨

user-dirs.defaults — the default settings for XDG user dirs, periodt 🎀

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

the /etc/xdg/user-dirs.defaults file is a text file (plain text, no fancy business) and it holds the default values for the XDG user dirs. those are the ones actually used by the xdg-user-dirs-update command. so like, this file is the blueprint, and that command is the one who goes and makes it happen. 🫶

inside, it's just lines that look like this:

NAME=VALUE

and these are the names it recognises, bestie — memorize the list, it's not long:

  • DESKTOP
  • DOWNLOAD
  • TEMPLATES
  • PUBLICSHARE
  • DOCUMENTS
  • MUSIC
  • PICTURES
  • VIDEOS

ok and here's the important bit about the values 👑 — the values are relative pathnames from the home directory</>, and they get translated on a per-path-element basis into the user's locale. cute right? that's how your Downloads folder can be like Téléchargements for someone else. slay, localization. 🌈

oh and also — any line that begins with a # character is ignored. that's your comment line, your little diary entry, your "not me writing notes in a config file" moment. 💀

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

  • XDG_CONFIG_DIRS — the user-dirs.defaults file lives in this directory. the default is /etc/xdg. so if you ever moved it somewhere else (iconic of you), this is how the system finds it. ✨

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

  • xdg-user-dirs-update(1) — the actual command that reads all this and does the work. go say hi to it, it's the main character here. 💜

🍓 AUTHOR 🍓

Alexander Larsson <alexl@redhat.com> — Developer 👑

like, thank you for the directories king, we appreciate you fr fr 🙈

and that's the whole vibe check, no cap. this page came to you from XDG, dated 04/08/2026 — go set up your folders, bestie, you got this 💅✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from