XDG-USER-DIRS-UPD(1)		  User Commands		    XDG-USER-DIRS-UPD(1)

NAME
     xdg-user-dirs-update - Update XDG user dir configuration


SYNOPSIS


			  xdg-user-dirs-update			     [OPTION...]
			  [--set NAME PATH...]




DESCRIPTION
     xdg-user-dirs-update   updates   the   current   state   of   the	  user's
     user-dirs.dirs.  If  none	existed	 before then one is created based on the
     system default values, or falling back to the old non-translated  filenames
     if	 such  directories exists. The list of old directories used are: ~/Desk-
     top, ~/Templates and ~/Public.

     If an old configuration exists it is updated with any new default	directo-
     ries.  Additionally,  any configured directories that point to non-existing
     locations are reset by pointing them to the  user's  home	directory.  This
     typically happens when the user removed the directory, so they likely don't
     want to use it anymore.

     On	 the  first run a user-dirs.locale file is created containing the locale
     that was used for the translation. This is used later  by	GUI  tools  like
     xdg-user-dirs-gtk-update  to  detect if the locale was changed, letting you
     migrate from the old names.


     xdg-user-dirs-update is normally run automatically at the start of	 a  user
     session to update the XDG user dirs according to the user's locale.



OPTIONS
     The following options are understood:



       .PP --help


	     Print help output and exit.

	   .RE
	   .PP --force


		 Update	 existing  user-dirs.dirs,  but force a full reset. This
	     means: Don't reset nonexisting directories to HOME, rather recreate
	     the directory. Never use backwards compatible non-translated names.
	     Always recreate user-dirs.locale.

	       .RE
	       .PP --dummy-output PATH


		     Write the configuration to PATH instead of the default con-
		 figuration file. Also, no directories are created.

		   .RE
		   .PP --set NAME PATH


			 Sets the XDG user dir with the given name.


			 NAME should be one of the following:
			 DESKTOP
			 DOCUMENTS
			 DOWNLOAD
			 MUSIC
			 PICTURES
			 PROJECTS
			 PUBLICSHARE
			 TEMPLATES
			 VIDEOS


			PATH must be an absolute path,	e.g.   $HOME/Some/Direc-
		     tory.

			.RE



FILES
       .PP  The XDG user dirs configuration is stored in the user-dirs.dirs file
     in the location pointed to by the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable.



ENVIRONMENT
       .PP  The	 XDG_CONFIG_HOME  environment  variable	 determines  where   the
     user-dirs.dirs file is located.



EXIT STATUS
       .PP On success 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.



EXAMPLES
     Update user dirs to the current locale:


	 xdg-user-dirs-update

     Set the Downloads directory explicitly:


	 xdg-user-dirs-update --set DOWNLOAD /home/user/Downloads

     Force a full reset of all user dirs:


	 xdg-user-dirs-update --force




SEE ALSO
       .PP   xdg-user-dir(1),  user-dirs.dirs(5),  user-dirs.defaults(5),  user-
     dirs.conf(5).



AUTHOR
     Alexander Larsson <alexl@redhat.com>
	 Developer

XDG				   08/01/2026		    XDG-USER-DIRS-UPD(1)