#!/usr/bin/env python import os path = os.getcwd() path = path.replace(os.environ["HOME"], "~") path_parts = path.split("/") path = "" for part in path_parts[:-2]: if len(part) > 0: path = "{}/{}".format(path, part[0]) else: path = "{}/{}".format(path, part) path = "{}/{}".format(path, "/".join(path_parts[-2:])) print path[1:]