In Python, we can extract a specific part of a file path of the directory using built-in modules such os.path and pathlib. Extracting a part of the file path is commonly needed when working with file systems, data processing, or scripts that handle files dynamically. Using os.path Module The os.path module in Python provides functions to manipulate files and directory paths. We can use this module to extract directory names, file names, and traverse up directory levels. Example Following is an example, which shows how to use the os.path module to extract a directory path from a full file path ... Read More

Iterating over files in a given directory helps to perform tasks such as finding files that match certain criteria or, counting the number of files in a directory. Python provides the following five ways to walk through all the existing files in a directory - os.listdir() method os.walk() method os.scandir() method Using pathlib module glob.iglob() method In this article, we are going to see all the above methods that are used to iterate over files in a given ... Read More

The given task is to list the directory tree structure, i.e., we need to print the hierarchy of folders and files starting from a specified root directory. This is similar to how the tree command works in Linux or Windows by showing nested folders and files in a structured and indented format. In this article, we will see all the possible methods in Python to list the directory tree structure. Using os.walk() Method The os.walk() method in Python is used to generate the file names and folder names in a directory tree by parsing through the tree in either a ... Read More

In Python, when we are working with directory structures, it is necessary to check whether a given directory contains any other directories within it or not. This process of checking is useful when performing batch operations, cleaning up folders, or traversing file systems. Python provides several built-in ways to perform this check effectively. In this article, we will go through different methods using both os and pathlib modules to determine if a directory contains any subdirectories. Using os.listdir() and os.path.isdir() The os.listdir() method is the straightforward method to detect subdirectories to list directory contents, and when it is combined with ... Read More

When we are dealing with large directories, managing files and folders is often required in listing them in a specific order. One common approach to list out the files/folders is sorting items by their names, which makes navigation and processing much easier. Python simplifies this task with built-in modules such as os and pathlib, which allow developers to fetch and organize directory contents with just a few lines of code. In this article, we will go through the different methods to retrieve and sort directory listings alphabetically with clean and flexible solutions for our file-handling needs. Using os.listdir() with sorted() ... Read More

A portable method of interacting with the operating system is offered through the OS Python Module. This module is a part of the default Python library, which contains tools for locating and modifying the working directory. When we are working in the Python shell or scripting environment, it's important to know which directory we're currently working in. This is known as the current working directory. We can change the current working directory to navigate our file system programmatically. In this article, we will see how to change the current working directory in the Python shell. Getting the current working directory ... Read More

In Python programming, it is important to check whether a given path points to a file or a directory. This check is very useful before performing operations such as reading, writing or listing contents. In this article, we’ll see the different methods to identify file types using Python. Why should we check the file type? Before interacting with a file path, it is important to confirm the type of the file to make sure that the code behaves as expected. If the code treats a directory as a file or file as a directory, it can cause errors or data ... Read More

When working with files in Python programming, the common tasks we can perform are reading data, writing logs or processing content. If the files are not managed in a proper way then it leads to issues such as resource leaks, file corruption or unexpected errors. In this article, we'll explore the different ways to safely open and close files in Python. Why file safety is important? When we open a file in python then the operating system will allocate resources to handle the file. If the file is not closed correctly, then those resources might not be released properly which ... Read More

We may see many situations in Python where we need to remove all the files from a particular folder. For example, we may need to perform cleaning up temporary logs, resetting application data, or managing output directories. This can be done by simply pointing to the folder and deleting files manually, but it is inefficient, especially when working with large-scale or automated scripts. In such cases, we can ensure a clean and reliable way of deleting files by using the built-in modules like os, pathlib, or shutil, which allow us ... Read More

In Python, it is a common scenario that the files we want to work with should be placed in the same folder as the script itself. Simply we with the reference of a filename like "data.txt" may not always work as expected, especially when the script is executed from a different working directory. The best way is to place the scripts in the actual location using the __file__ variable along with the os or pathlib modules. In this article, we are going to see the different approaches to open a file in the same directory as a Python script. Using ... Read More