How to find the user's documents directory
Swift version: 5.0
Every iOS app gets a slice of storage just for itself, meaning that you can read and write your app's files there without worrying about colliding with other apps. This is called the user's documents directory, and it's exposed both in code (as you'll see in a moment) and also through iTunes file sharing.
Unfortunately, the code to find the user's documents directory isn't very memorable, so I nearly always use this helpful function – and now you can too!
func getDocumentsDirectory() -> URL {
let paths = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)
let documentsDirectory = paths[0]
return documentsDirectory
}LEARN SWIFTUI FOR FREE I wrote a massive, free SwiftUI tutorial collection, and also have a growing list of free SwiftUI tutorials on YouTube – get started today!
Available from iOS 2.0 – see Hacking with Swift tutorial 10
Similar solutions…
- How to read the contents of a directory using FileManager
- How to detect documents using VNDocumentCameraViewController
- How to read the user’s location while your app is in the background
- How to request a user's location only once using requestLocation
- How to record user videos using ReplayKit
About the Swift Knowledge Base
This is part of the Swift Knowledge Base, a free, searchable collection of solutions for common iOS questions.
