### Function

# Gimp data_directory

#### Declaration [src]

    const gchar*
    gimp_data_directory (
      void
    )

#### Description [src]

Returns the default top directory for GIMP data. If the environment variable GIMP3_DATADIR exists, that is used. It should be an absolute pathname. Otherwise, on Unix the compile-time defined directory is used. On Windows, the installation directory as deduced from the executable’s full filename is used.

Note that the actual directories used for GIMP data files can be overridden by the user in the preferences dialog.

In config files such as gimprc, the string ${gimp_data_dir} expands to this directory.

The returned string is owned by GIMP and must not be modified or freed. The returned string is in the encoding used for filenames by GLib, which isn’t necessarily UTF-8. (On Windows it always is UTF-8.)

#### Return value

Returns: | `const gchar*`
| The top directory for GIMP data.
| The data is owned by the called function.
| The value is a NUL terminated UTF-8 string.