Finding the largest file in a directory using Python

Last Updated : 29 Dec, 2020

In this article, we will find the file having the largest size in a given directory using Python. We will check all files in the main directory and each of its subdirectories. Modules required: os: The os module in Python provides a way of using operating system dependent functionality. OS module is available with Python's Standard Library and does not require installation. Explanation:

The folder path is taken as input. We then walk through the entire directory using os.walk() function.
os.walk() returns a tuple containing the root folder name, a list of subdirectories and a list of files.
os.stat() is used to get the status of the file and st_size attribute returns its size in bytes.

Below is the implementation.

Python3 1==

import os


# folder path input
print("Enter folder path")
path = os.path.abspath(input())

# for storing size of each 
# file
size = 0

# for storing the size of 
# the largest file
max_size = 0

# for storing the path to the 
# largest file
max_file =""

# walking through the entire folder,
# including subdirectories

for folder, subfolders, files in os.walk(path):
    
    # checking the size of each file
    for file in files:
        size = os.stat(os.path.join( folder, file  )).st_size
        
        # updating maximum size
        if size>max_size:
            max_size = size
            max_file = os.path.join( folder, file  )

print("The largest file is: "+max_file)
print('Size: '+str(max_size)+' bytes')

Output:

Input: Enter folder path /Users/tithighosh/Downloads/wordpress Output: The largest file is: /Users/tithighosh/Downloads/wordpress/wp-includes/js/dist/components.js Size: 1792316 bytes Input: Enter folder path /Users/tithighosh/Desktop Output: The largest file is: /Users/tithighosh/Desktop/new/graph theory.pdf Size: 64061656 bytes

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Finding the largest file in a directory using Python

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