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<head><title>prefixDirectory -- the prefix directory</title>
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<div><a href="index.html" title="">Macaulay2Doc</a> > <a href="_how_sp__Macaulay2_spfinds_spits_spfiles.html" title="">how Macaulay2 finds its files</a> > <a href="_prefix__Directory.html" title="the prefix directory">prefixDirectory</a></div>
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<div><h1>prefixDirectory -- the prefix directory</h1>
<div class="single"><h2>Description</h2>
<div><p>When Macaulay2 is successfully installed, its files are installed in a directory tree whose layout, relative to the root, is determined by the hash table <a href="_current__Layout.html" title="relative locations of Macaulay2 files">Layout</a>. When M2 starts up, it detects whether it is running in such a layout, and sets <a href="_prefix__Directory.html" title="the prefix directory">prefixDirectory</a> to the root of that directory tree. The way it does that is that it locates the running M2 executable and determines whether it is located in a directory whose name is <tt>bin</tt> that has a sibling directory called <tt>share</tt> that leads to a directory called <tt>share/Macaulay2/Core/</tt>.</p>
<p>The prefix directory can be set by the user at an early stage when <tt>M2</tt> starts up with the <tt>--prefix</tt> command line option. This will affect the value of <a href="_path.html" title="list of directories to look in">path</a> and thus the locations of the files loaded initially. Use the <tt>--notify</tt> command line option to display the locations of files as they are loaded.</p>
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<div class="single"><h2>See also</h2>
<ul><li><span><a href="_prefix__Path.html" title="absolute locations of Macaulay2 files">prefixPath</a> -- absolute locations of Macaulay2 files</span></li>
<li><span><a href="___Invoking_spthe_spprogram.html" title="">Invoking the program</a></span></li>
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<div class="waystouse"><h2>For the programmer</h2>
<p>The object <a href="_prefix__Directory.html" title="the prefix directory">prefixDirectory</a> is <span>a <a href="___String.html">string</a></span>.</p>
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