How to Read .list Files in Python
In this tutorial, we're covering everything you demand to know about how to list files in a directory using Python.
Python is a full general-purpose linguistic communication, used in a variety of fields like Information Scientific discipline, Motorcar Learning, and even in Web Development. There seems to exist no restriction in the awarding of Python Language.
Therefore, it seems quite picayune Python can be used to listing files and directories in any system. The aim of this article is to illuminate the reader about the ways to listing files in a organisation using Python.
List All Files in a Directory Using Python
For the purpose of interacting with directories in a system using Python, the os library is used.
1. Using the 'os' library
The method that nosotros are going to exercise for our motive is listdir(). As the name suggests, it is used to list items in directories.
# Importing the os library import os # The path for listing items path = '.' # The list of items files = bone.listdir(path) # Loop to impress each filename separately for filename in files: print(filename) Output:
game_file.py howdy-lo_pygame.py Journaldev list_files1.py hi_lo_pygame.mp4 test.py list_files.py my_program.cpp a.out cut.cpp Linux users tin easily match the higher up output using the standard ls command on the concluding.
Every bit we can run into the outputs of each method matches.
2. Using the 'glob' library
glob is by and large a filename pattern matching library, but it can be used to listing items in the electric current directory by:
# Importing the glob library import glob # Path to the directory path = '' # or # path = './' # Extract the list of filenames files = glob.glob(path + '*', recursive=False) # Loop to impress the filenames for filename in files: print(filename) Output:
game_file.py hi-lo_pygame.py Journaldev list_files1.py hi_lo_pygame.mp4 test.py list_files.py my_program.cpp a.out cut.cpp The wildcard character '*' is used to match all the items in the current directory. Since we wish to display the items of the current directory, we need to switch off the recursive nature of glob() office.
3. List simply files in the current directory
In the to a higher place methods, the python lawmaking was returning all the items in the current directory irrespective of their nature. We can extract only the files using the path.isfile() function inside the os library.
# Importing the os library import os # The path for list items path = '.' # List of only files files = [f for f in os.listdir(path) if os.path.isfile(f)] # Loop to print each filename separately for filename in files: impress(filename) Output:
game_file.py hello-lo_pygame.py list_files1.py hi_lo_pygame.mp4 test.py list_files.py my_program.cpp a.out cut.cpp In the above code snippet, List Comprehension is used to filter out merely those items that are really a file.
Another key matter to note here is that, the above code does not work for other directories as the variable 'f' is non an absolute path, but a relative path to the current directory.
List All Files in a Directory Recursively
In order to print the files inside a directory and its subdirectories, we need to traverse them recursively.
1. Using the 'os' library
With the aid of the walk() method, we tin traverse each subdirectory inside a directory one by ane.
# Importing the bone library import os # The path for list items path = './Documents/' # List of files in complete directory file_list = [] """ Loop to extract files inside a directory path --> Name of each directory folders --> List of subdirectories inside current 'path' files --> List of files within electric current 'path' """ for path, folders, files in bone.walk(path): for file in files: file_list.append(os.path.join(path, file)) # Loop to print each filename separately for filename in file_list: print(filename) Output:
./Documents/game_file.py ./Documents/hullo-lo_pygame.py ./Documents/list_files1.py ./Documents/hi_lo_pygame.mp4 ./Documents/examination.py ./Documents/list_files.py ./Documents/my_program.cpp ./Documents/a.out ./Documents/cutting.cpp ./Documents/Journaldev/mastermind.py ./Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_terminal.py ./Documents/Journaldev/lcm.cpp ./Documents/Journaldev/super.cpp ./Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_pygame.py ./Documents/Journaldev/examination.java The bone.walk() method simply follows each subdirectory and extracts the files in a top-downward way by default. There are three iterators used for going through the output of os.walk() role:
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path– This variable contains the nowadays directory the function is observing during a certain iteration -
folders– This variable is a list of directories inside the'path'directory. -
files– A list of files inside the'path'directory.
The bring together() method is used to concatenate the file name with its parent directory, providing us with the relative path to the file.
2. Using the 'glob' library
Similar to the above procedure, glob can recursively visit each directory and extract all items and render them.
# Importing the glob library import glob # Importing the bone library import os # Path to the directory path = './Documents/' # Excerpt all the listing of items recursively files = glob.glob(path + '**/*', recursive=True) # Filter only files files = [f for f in files if os.path.isfile(f)] # Loop to impress the filenames for filename in files: print(filename) Output:
./Documents/game_file.py ./Documents/hi-lo_pygame.py ./Documents/list_files1.py ./Documents/hi_lo_pygame.mp4 ./Documents/exam.py ./Documents/list_files.py ./Documents/my_program.cpp ./Documents/a.out ./Documents/cut.cpp ./Documents/Journaldev/mastermind.py ./Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_terminal.py ./Documents/Journaldev/lcm.cpp ./Documents/Journaldev/super.cpp ./Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_pygame.py ./Documents/Journaldev/test.java The '**' symbol used along with the path variable tells the glob() function to match files inside any subdirectory. The '*' tells the function to match with all the items within a directory.
Since we wish to extract only the files in the complete directory, we filter out the files using the isfile() function used earlier.
List All Subdirectories Inside a Directory
Instead of listing files, we tin can list all the subdirectories nowadays in a specific directory.
# Importing the bone library import os # The path for listing items path = './Documents/' # List of folders in complete directory folder_list = [] """ Loop to extract folders inside a directory path --> Proper name of each directory folders --> List of subdirectories inside current 'path' files --> Listing of files within current 'path' """ for path, folders, files in os.walk(path): for folder in folders: folder_list.append(os.path.join(path, binder)) # Loop to print each foldername separately for foldername in folder_list: print(foldername) Output:
The pocket-sized difference betwixt list files and directories is the selection of iterator during the process of os.walk() function. For files, we iterate over the files variable. Hither, we loop over the folders variable.
List Files in a Directory with Absolute Path
Once nosotros know how to list files in a directory, and so displaying the accented path is a piece of cake. The abspath() method provides us with the accented path for a file.
# Importing the os library import os # The path for listing items path = './Documents/' # List of files in complete directory file_list = [] """ Loop to extract files inside a directory path --> Proper name of each directory folders --> List of subdirectories inside current 'path' files --> Listing of files inside electric current 'path' """ for path, folders, files in bone.walk(path): for file in files: file_list.append(os.path.abspath(bone.path.join(path, file))) # Loop to impress each filename separately for filename in file_list: print(filename) Output:
/home/aprataksh/Documents/game_file.py /dwelling/aprataksh/Documents/hi-lo_pygame.py /domicile/aprataksh/Documents/list_files1.py /home/aprataksh/Documents/hi_lo_pygame.mp4 /dwelling house/aprataksh/Documents/examination.py /home/aprataksh/Documents/list_files.py /home/aprataksh/Documents/my_program.cpp /abode/aprataksh/Documents/a.out /dwelling house/aprataksh/Documents/cut.cpp /home/aprataksh/Documents/Journaldev/mastermind.py /home/aprataksh/Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_terminal.py /home/aprataksh/Documents/Journaldev/lcm.cpp /home/aprataksh/Documents/Journaldev/super.cpp /abode/aprataksh/Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_pygame.py /domicile/aprataksh/Documents/Journaldev/test.java One matter to annotation here is that abspath() must be provided with the relative path of the file and that is the purpose of join() function.
List Files in a Directory by Matching Patterns
There are multiple means to filter out filenames matching a particular pattern. Let us get through each of them one by i.
1. Using the 'fnmatch' library
As the proper noun suggests, fnmatch is a filename pattern matching library. Using fnmatch with our standard filename extracting libraries, we can filter out those files matching a specific pattern.
# Importing the os and fnmatch library import os, fnmatch # The path for listing items path = './Documents/' # Listing of files in complete directory file_list = [] """ Loop to excerpt files containing word "file" inside a directory path --> Proper name of each directory folders --> List of subdirectories inside current 'path' files --> Listing of files inside electric current 'path' """ print("List of files containing \"file\" in them") for path, folders, files in os.walk(path): for file in files: if fnmatch.fnmatch(file, '*file*'): file_list.append(os.path.join(path, file)) # Loop to print each filename separately for filename in file_list: print(filename) Output:
Listing of files containing "file" in them ./Documents/game_file.py ./Documents/list_files1.py ./Documents/list_files.py The fnmatch() function takes in 2 parameters, the filename followed by the pattern to be matched. In the above code, we are looking at all the files containing the word file in them.
2. Using the 'glob' library
As we mentioned before, glob's primary purpose is filename pattern matching.
# Importing the glob library import glob # Importing the bone library import bone # Path to the directory path = './Documents/' # Extract items containing numbers in name files = glob.glob(path + '**/*[0-9]*.*', recursive=True) # Filter only files files = [f for f in files if bone.path.isfile(f)] # Loop to print the filenames for filename in files: impress(filename) Output:
./Documents/list_files1.py The above pattern matching regular expression '**/*[0-nine]*.*' tin can exist explained as:
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'**'– Traverse all subdirectories within the path -
'/*'– The filename tin can first with any graphic symbol -
'[0-ix]'– Contains a number within its filename -
'*.*'– The filename can end with whatsoever grapheme and can have any extension
three. Using the 'pathlib' library
pathlib follows an object-oriented style of interacting with the filesystem. The rglob() function inside the library can be used to recursively extract list of files through a certain Path object.
These list of files can be filtered using a pattern within the rglob() function.
# Importing the pathlib library import pathlib # Creating a Path object path = pathlib.Path('./Documents/') # Extracting a list of files starting with '1000' files = path.rglob('thousand*') # Loop to print the files separately for file in files: impress(file) Output:
Documents/my_program.cpp Documents/Journaldev/mastermind.py The in a higher place lawmaking snippet is used to list all the files starting with the letter 'm'.
List Files in a Directory with a Specific Extension
Listing files with a specific extension in Python is somewhat like to pattern matching. For this purpose, nosotros need to create a pattern with respect to the file extension.
# Importing the os and fnmatch library import os, fnmatch # The path for listing items path = './Documents/' # List to store filenames file_list = [] """ Loop to excerpt python files path --> Name of each directory folders --> List of subdirectories within electric current 'path' files --> List of files inside current 'path' """ print("List of python files in the directory:") for path, folders, files in os.walk(path): for file in files: if fnmatch.fnmatch(file, '*.py'): file_list.suspend(os.path.join(path, file)) # Loop to impress each filename separately for filename in file_list: print(filename) Output:
List of python files in the directory: ./Documents/game_file.py ./Documents/hi-lo_pygame.py ./Documents/list_files1.py ./Documents/test.py ./Documents/list_files.py ./Documents/Journaldev/mastermind.py ./Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_terminal.py ./Documents/Journaldev/blackjack_pygame.py The fnmatch() role filters out those files ending with '.py', that is python files. If we want to extract files with different extensions, and so nosotros have to alter this part of the code. For example, in order to fetch just C++ files, '.cpp' must be used.
This sums upwardly the ways to fetch list of files in a directory using Python.
Decision
There can exist multiple ways to solve any problem at hand, and the most convenient one is not e'er the answer. With respect to this commodity, a Python developer must be aware of every way nosotros can list files in a directory.
We hope this commodity was easy to follow. Feel free to comment below for any queries or suggestions.
Source: https://www.askpython.com/python/examples/list-files-in-a-directory-using-python
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