---
name: "user-dirs.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "xdg-user-dirs"
version: "0.20-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/user-dirs.conf"
---

# user-dirs.conf(5)

configuration for xdg-user-dirs-update

## NAME

user-dirs.conf - configuration for xdg-user-dirs-update

## DESCRIPTION

The /etc/xdg/user-dirs.conf file is a text file that controls the behavior of the xdg-user-dirs-update command. Users can have their own ~/.config/user-dirs.conf file, which overrides the system-wide configuration.

The following keys are recognised:

enabled=*boolean*

When set to False, xdg-user-dirs-update will not change the XDG user dirs configuration.

filename\_encoding=*encoding*

This sets the filename encoding to use. *encoding* can be an explicit encoding name, such as UTF-8, or "locale", which means the encoding of the users locale will be used.

Lines beginning with a # character are ignored.

## ENVIRONMENT

**XDG\_CONFIG\_DIRS**

The system-wide user-dirs.conf file is located in this directory. The default is /etc/xdg.

**XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME**

The per-user user-dirs.conf file is located in this directory. The default is $HOME/.config.

## SEE ALSO

[**xdg-user-dirs-update**(1)](/xdg-user-dirs-update/1.md)

## AUTHOR

**Alexander Larsson** \<alexl@redhat.com\>

Developer