Get current working directory in a Qt application

Just tested and QDir::currentPath() does return the path from which I called my executable.

And a symlink does not "exist". If you are executing an exe from that path you are effectively executing it from the path the symlink points to.

To add on to KaZ answer, Whenever I am making a QML application I tend to add this to the main c++

#include <QGuiApplication>
#include <QQmlApplicationEngine>
#include <QStandardPaths>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QGuiApplication app(argc, argv);
QQmlApplicationEngine engine;

// get the applications dir path and expose it to QML 

QUrl appPath(QString("%1").arg(app.applicationDirPath()));
engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("appPath", appPath);


// Get the QStandardPaths home location and expose it to QML 
QUrl userPath;
   const QStringList usersLocation = QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::HomeLocation);
   if (usersLocation.isEmpty())
       userPath = appPath.resolved(QUrl("/home/"));
   else
      userPath = QString("%1").arg(usersLocation.first());
   engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("userPath", userPath);

   QUrl imagePath;
      const QStringList picturesLocation = QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::PicturesLocation);
      if (picturesLocation.isEmpty())
          imagePath = appPath.resolved(QUrl("images"));
      else
          imagePath = QString("%1").arg(picturesLocation.first());
      engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("imagePath", imagePath);

      QUrl videoPath;
      const QStringList moviesLocation = QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::MoviesLocation);
      if (moviesLocation.isEmpty())
          videoPath = appPath.resolved(QUrl("./"));
      else
          videoPath = QString("%1").arg(moviesLocation.first());
      engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("videoPath", videoPath);

      QUrl homePath;
      const QStringList homesLocation = QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::HomeLocation);
      if (homesLocation.isEmpty())
          homePath = appPath.resolved(QUrl("/"));
      else
          homePath = QString("%1").arg(homesLocation.first());
      engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("homePath", homePath);

      QUrl desktopPath;
      const QStringList desktopsLocation = QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::DesktopLocation);
      if (desktopsLocation.isEmpty())
          desktopPath = appPath.resolved(QUrl("/"));
      else
          desktopPath = QString("%1").arg(desktopsLocation.first());
      engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("desktopPath", desktopPath);

      QUrl docPath;
      const QStringList docsLocation = QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::DocumentsLocation);
      if (docsLocation.isEmpty())
          docPath = appPath.resolved(QUrl("/"));
      else
          docPath = QString("%1").arg(docsLocation.first());
      engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("docPath", docPath);


      QUrl tempPath;
      const QStringList tempsLocation = QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::TempLocation);
      if (tempsLocation.isEmpty())
          tempPath = appPath.resolved(QUrl("/"));
      else
          tempPath = QString("%1").arg(tempsLocation.first());
      engine.rootContext()->setContextProperty("tempPath", tempPath);
engine.load(QUrl(QStringLiteral("qrc:/main.qml")));
return app.exec();
}

Using it in QML

....
........
............
Text{
text:"This is the applications path: " + appPath
+ "\nThis is the users home directory: " + homePath
+ "\nThis is the Desktop path: " desktopPath;
}

Thank you RedX and Kaz for your answers. I don't get why by me it gives the path of the exe. I found an other way to do it :

QString pwd("");
char * PWD;
PWD = getenv ("PWD");
pwd.append(PWD);
cout << "Working directory : " << pwd << flush;

It is less elegant than a single line... but it works for me.

Have you tried QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath()

qDebug() << "App path : " << qApp->applicationDirPath();