List only files in a directory?
Question:
Is there a way to list the files (not directories) in a directory with Python? I know I could use os.listdir and a loop of os.path.isfile()s, but if there’s something simpler (like a function os.path.listfilesindir or something), it would probably be better.
Answers:
This is a simple generator expression:
files = (file for file in os.listdir(path)
if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(path, file)))
for file in files: # You could shorten this to one line, but it runs on a bit.
...
Or you could make a generator function if it suited you better:
def files(path):
for file in os.listdir(path):
if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(path, file)):
yield file
Then simply:
for file in files(path):
...
You could try pathlib, which has a lot of other useful stuff too.
Pathlib is an object-oriented library for interacting with filesystem paths. To get the files in the current directory, one can do:
from pathlib import *
files = (x for x in Path(".") if x.is_file())
for file in files:
print(str(file), "is a file!")
This is, in my opinion, more Pythonic than using os.path.
See also: PEP 428.
Using pathlib in Windows as follow:
files = (x for x in Path(“your_path”) if x.is_file())
Generates error:
TypeError: ‘WindowsPath’ object is not iterable
You should rather use Path.iterdir()
filePath = Path("your_path")
if filePath.is_dir():
files = list(x for x in filePath.iterdir() if x.is_file())
files = next(os.walk('..'))[2]
Using pathlib, the shortest way to list only files is:
[x for x in Path("your_path").iterdir() if x.is_file()]
with depth support if need be.
For the special case of working with files in the current directory, you could do it as a simple one-liner list comprehension:
[f for f in os.listdir(os.curdir) if os.path.isfile(f)]
Otherwise in the more general case, directory paths & filenames have to be joined:
dirpath = '~/path_to_dir_of_interest'
files = [f for f in os.listdir(dirpath) if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(dirpath, f))]
Since Python 3.6 you can use glob with a recursive option “**”. Note that glob will give you all files and directories, so you can keep only the ones that are files
files = glob.glob(join(in_path, "**/*"), recursive=True)
files = [f for f in files if os.path.isfile(f)]
If you use Python 3, you could use pathlib.
But, you have to know that if you use the is_dir() method as :
from pathlib import *
#p is directory path
#files is list of files in the form of path type
files=[x for x in p.iterdir() if x.is_file()]
empty files will be skipped by .iterdir()
The solution I found is:
from pathlib import *
#p is directory path
#listing all directory's content, even empty files
contents=list(p.glob("*"))
#if element in contents isn't a folder, it's a file
#is_dir() even works for empty folders...!
files=[x for x in contents if not x.is_dir()]
Is there a way to list the files (not directories) in a directory with Python? I know I could use os.listdir and a loop of os.path.isfile()s, but if there’s something simpler (like a function os.path.listfilesindir or something), it would probably be better.
This is a simple generator expression:
files = (file for file in os.listdir(path)
if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(path, file)))
for file in files: # You could shorten this to one line, but it runs on a bit.
...
Or you could make a generator function if it suited you better:
def files(path):
for file in os.listdir(path):
if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(path, file)):
yield file
Then simply:
for file in files(path):
...
You could try pathlib, which has a lot of other useful stuff too.
Pathlib is an object-oriented library for interacting with filesystem paths. To get the files in the current directory, one can do:
from pathlib import *
files = (x for x in Path(".") if x.is_file())
for file in files:
print(str(file), "is a file!")
This is, in my opinion, more Pythonic than using os.path.
See also: PEP 428.
Using pathlib in Windows as follow:
files = (x for x in Path(“your_path”) if x.is_file())
Generates error:
TypeError: ‘WindowsPath’ object is not iterable
You should rather use Path.iterdir()
filePath = Path("your_path")
if filePath.is_dir():
files = list(x for x in filePath.iterdir() if x.is_file())
files = next(os.walk('..'))[2]
Using pathlib, the shortest way to list only files is:
[x for x in Path("your_path").iterdir() if x.is_file()]
with depth support if need be.
For the special case of working with files in the current directory, you could do it as a simple one-liner list comprehension:
[f for f in os.listdir(os.curdir) if os.path.isfile(f)]
Otherwise in the more general case, directory paths & filenames have to be joined:
dirpath = '~/path_to_dir_of_interest'
files = [f for f in os.listdir(dirpath) if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(dirpath, f))]
Since Python 3.6 you can use glob with a recursive option “**”. Note that glob will give you all files and directories, so you can keep only the ones that are files
files = glob.glob(join(in_path, "**/*"), recursive=True)
files = [f for f in files if os.path.isfile(f)]
If you use Python 3, you could use pathlib.
But, you have to know that if you use the is_dir() method as :
from pathlib import *
#p is directory path
#files is list of files in the form of path type
files=[x for x in p.iterdir() if x.is_file()]
empty files will be skipped by .iterdir()
The solution I found is:
from pathlib import *
#p is directory path
#listing all directory's content, even empty files
contents=list(p.glob("*"))
#if element in contents isn't a folder, it's a file
#is_dir() even works for empty folders...!
files=[x for x in contents if not x.is_dir()]