Pandas for Everyone: Python Data Analysis, 2nd Edition

F

Working Directories

Building on Appendix C, Appendix D, and Appendix E, this appendix covers working directories, especially when you are working with project templates (Appendix D).

A working directory simply tells the program where the base or reference location is. It’s common to place all of your code, data, output, figures, and other project files all in the same folder, because it means the working directory is easy to figure out. However, this practice can easily lead to a messy folder, as mentioned in Appendix D.

We like fully documented project templates that tell us where and how to run our scripts. With this approach, all our scripts have a predictable and consistent working directory.

There are a few ways to figure out what your ...