Windows user "special folders" (Desktop, Start Menu, Documents, ...) info by enumerating constants from MS published list

list-user-special-folders.py

'''List all User Shell Folders via ID number.

An alternative to the usual

    objShell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
    allUserProgramsMenu = objShell.SpecialFolders("AllUsersPrograms")

because "These special folders do not work in all language locales, a preferred
method is to query the value from User Shell folders"

Assumes python 3.6+ (for f-strings)

Sources:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2063508/find-system-folder-locations-in-python
https://ss64.com/vb/special.html
https://ss64.com/nt/shell-folders-vbs.txt
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/win32/api/shldisp/ne-shldisp-shellspecialfolderconstants#constants
'''
import win32com.client
import csv

shapp = win32com.client.Dispatch("Shell.Application")

csvfile = r"special-folder-constants.csv"
data = csv.DictReader(open(csvfile))

for row in data:
    name = row["UserFolder"]
    path = shapp.namespace(int(row["ID"])).self.path
    print(f'{name:<20} {path}')

del data

special-folder-by-name.py

'''Get user special folder by name'''
import win32com.client
import csv
shapp = win32com.client.Dispatch("Shell.Application")
csvfile = r"special-folder-constants.csv"
data = csv.DictReader(open(csvfile))

def get_by_name(name, data=data):
    # print(name.upper())
    for row in data:
        if name.upper() == row["UserFolder"]:
            # print(row["ID"])
            return shapp.namespace(int(row["ID"])).self.path
    return None

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("-"*40)
    name = 'startmenu'
    path = get_by_name(name)
    print("Name:\t{}".format(name))
    print("Path:\t{}".format(path))

special-folder-constants.csv

winfolders.py

r'''Windows user "special folders" (Desktop, Start Menu, Documents, ...) info

    fpath(x)        full path for folder name `x`
    description(x)  description for folder name `x`
    names()         list all special folder names we know about
    print_all()     display all SF names and paths

Example output:

    ----------------------------------------
    Search:	startmenu
    ----------------------------------------
    Name:	STARTMENU
    Path:	C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
    Desc:	File system directory that contains Start menu items. A typical path is C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu.
    ----------------------------------------

This module is an alternative to the usual

    objShell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
    allmenu = objShell.SpecialFolders("AllUsersPrograms")

because "These special folders do not work in all language locales, a preferred
method is to query the value from User Shell folders". So we do that using the
integer IDs from "ShellSpecialFolderConstants Enumeration", published 4/12/2018.

Additionally it turns out using Shell.Application returns more folders than
Wscript.Shell, 38 vs 16.

Sources:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2063508/find-system-folder-locations-in-python
https://ss64.com/vb/special.html
https://ss64.com/nt/shell-folders-vbs.txt
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/win32/api/shldisp/ne-shldisp-shellspecialfolderconstants#constants
'''
import win32com.client
import csv

shapp = win32com.client.Dispatch("Shell.Application")

csvfile = "special-folder-constants.csv"
data = tuple(csv.DictReader(open(csvfile)))
    # we wrap in a tuple so the rows are available all the time, and immutable
    # otherwise content of `data` can change in every call, e.g. early return
    # after finding our vaue.

def names(data=data):
    '''Return list of possible user special folder names'''
    names = []
    for row in data:
        names.append(row["UserFolder"])
    return names

def description(name):
    '''Return description for `name` as string'''
    for row in data:
        if name.upper() == row["UserFolder"]:
            return row["Description"]

def get_sfname(name):
    '''Return Windows special folder for `name` as string or None'''
    for row in data:
        if name.upper() == row["UserFolder"]:
            return row["UserFolder"]

def fpath(name):
    '''Return full path for `name`. Virtual folders begin with `::`'''
    for row in data:
        if name.upper() == row["UserFolder"]:
            return shapp.namespace(int(row["ID"])).self.path

def print_all(data=data):
    '''Display all user special folder names and paths'''
    print('{:<20} {}'.format('Name', 'Path'))
    for row in data:
        name = row["UserFolder"]
        path = shapp.namespace(int(row["ID"])).self.path
        print(f'{name:<20} {path}')

if __name__ == "__main__":
    search = 'startmenu'
    sfname = get_sfname(search)
    path = fpath(search)
    desc = description(search)
    print("-"*40)
    print("Search:\t{}".format(search))
    print("-"*40)
    print("Name:\t{}".format(sfname))
    print("Path:\t{}".format(path))
    print("Desc:\t{}".format(desc))
    print("-"*40)

    # print("-"*40)
    # print(names())

    # print("-"*40)
    # print_all()

Output:

DESKTOP              C:\Users\mattw\Desktop
PROGRAMS             C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
CONTROLS             ::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\0
PRINTERS             ::{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}\::{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
PERSONAL             C:\Users\mattw\Documents
FAVORITES            C:\Users\mattw\Favorites
STARTUP              C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
RECENT               C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
SENDTO               C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
BITBUCKET            ::{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
STARTMENU            C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
DESKTOPDIRECTORY     C:\Users\mattw\Desktop
DRIVES               ::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
NETWORK              ::{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}
NETHOOD              C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
FONTS                C:\Windows\Fonts
TEMPLATES            C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
COMMONSTARTMENU      C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
COMMONPROGRAMS       C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
COMMONSTARTUP        C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
COMMONDESKTOPDIR     C:\Users\Public\Desktop
APPDATA              C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming
PRINTHOOD            C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
LOCALAPPDATA         C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Local
ALTSTARTUP           C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
COMMONALTSTARTUP     C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
COMMONFAVORITES      C:\Users\mattw\Favorites
INTERNETCACHE        C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
COOKIES              C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies
HISTORY              C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
COMMONAPPDATA        C:\ProgramData
WINDOWS              C:\Windows
SYSTEM               C:\Windows\System32
PROGRAMFILES         C:\Program Files
MYPICTURES           C:\Users\mattw\Pictures
PROFILE              C:\Users\mattw
SYSTEMx86            C:\Windows\SysWOW64
PROGRAMFILESx86      C:\Users\mattw\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools

I decided this was worth making a module out of, repo at https://github.com/maphew/winfolders (name subject to change)

Note: contrary to MSDN page at time of this writing, PROGRAMFILESx86 is 42 not 48