---
name: "Tk::chooseDirectory"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "perl-tk"
version: "804.036-9"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Tk::chooseDirectory"
---

# Tk::chooseDirectory(3pm)

pops up a dialog box for the user to select a directory.

## NAME

Tk::chooseDirectory - pops up a dialog box for the user to select a directory.

## SYNOPSIS

*$widget*-\>**chooseDirectory**( ?*option value ...*? );

## DESCRIPTION

The method **chooseDirectory** is implemented as a perl wrapper on the core tk "command" **tk\_chooseDirectory**, and *$widget* is passed as the argument to the hidden **-parent** option.

The **chooseDirectory** method pops up a dialog box for the user to select a directory. The following *option-value* pairs are possible as command line arguments:

- **-initialdir** *dirname*

  Specifies that the directories in *directory* should be displayed when the dialog pops up. If this parameter is not specified, then the directories in the current working directory are displayed. If the parameter specifies a relative path, the return value will convert the relative path to an absolute path.  This option may not always work on the Macintosh.  This is not a bug. Rather, the *General Controls* control panel on the Mac allows the end user to override the application default directory.

- **-parent** $widget

  Makes `$widget` the logical parent of the dialog. The dialog is displayed on top of its parent window.

- **-title** *titleString*

  Specifies a string to display as the title of the dialog box. If this option is not specified, then a default title will be displayed.

- **-mustexist** *boolean*

  Specifies whether the user may specify non-existant directories.  If this parameter is true, then the user may only select directories that already exist.  The default value is *false*.

## CAVEATS

Perl does not have a concept of encoded filesystems yet. This means that operations on filenames like `"opendir"` and `"open"` still use byte semantics. Tk however uses character semantics internally, which means that you can get filenames with the UTF-8 flag set in functions like `"chooseDirectory"`, `"getOpenFile"` and similar. It's the user's responsibility to determine the encoding of the underlying filesystem and convert the result into bytes, e.g.

```
    use Encode;
    ...
    my $dir = $mw->chooseDirectory;
    $dir = encode("windows-1252", $dir);
    opendir DIR, $dir or die $!;
    ...
```

See also "When Unicode Does Not Happen" in perlunicode and "Unicode in Filenames" in perltodo.

## EXAMPLE

```
    my $dir = $mw->chooseDirectory(-initialdir => '~',
                                   -title => 'Choose a directory');
    if (!defined $dir) {
        warn 'No directory selected';
    } else {
        warn "Selected $dir";
    }
```

## SEE ALSO

Tk::getOpenFile, Tk::getOpenFile

## KEYWORDS

directory selection dialog