Working With Python Directory

Python Directory

In this blog, we will learn about directory management in Python.

Directory class

A directory is a collection of files and sub-directories. Python provides os modules for dealing with directories.

Some important directory method they are listed below:

getcwd()
chdir()
listdir()
path.exists()
mkdir()
rename()
rmdir()

Current Directory

getcwd() method is used to get your current working directory path.

import os
print(os.getcwd())

Change Directory

Change your current working directory using chdir() method. It takes a full file path.

import os
print(os.chdir('D:\\CCA'))
print(os.getcwd())

List Directories and files

List all files and sub-directories inside a directory using listdir() method. The listdir() method take a full directory path. If you don't provide directory path then it takes the current working directory.

import os
print(os.listdir())
print(os.listdir('D:\\CCA'))

Check if a directory exists or not

The path.exists() method is used to check if a directory exists or not. If directory exists than returns TRUE else returns FALSE.

import os
if os.path.exists('D:\\CCA\\Science'):
print('Directory already exists.')
else:
print('Directory doesn\'t exists.')

Create a new directory

You can create a new directory using the mkdir() method. This method takes the full path of the new directory, if you don't provide a full path than the new directory is created in the current working directory.

import os
os.chdir('D:\\CCA') #Change the current path
if os.path.exists('D:\\CCA\\Kumar'): #Check directory exists or not
print('Directory already exists.')
else:
os.mkdir('Kumar') #directory creating
print('Directory created successfully...')

Rename a directory

You can rename a directory using rename() method. This method takes two arguments. The first argument is old directory name and the second argument is new directory name.

import os
os.chdir('D:\\CCA')
if os.path.exists('D:\\CCA\\Kumar'):
os.rename('Kumar','Sarfaraj')
print('Directory is renamed successfully...')
else:
print('Drectory doesn\'t exists.')

Delete a directory

The rmdir() method is used to delete an empty directory. It takes a full file path.

import os
os.chdir('D:\\CCA')
if os.path.exists('D:\\CCA\\Sarfaraj'):
os.rmdir('Sarfaraj')
print('Directory deteted successfully...')
else:
print('Drectory doesn\'t exists.')

Summary

In this blog, I covered some directory related methods in python and saw examples of how to use these methods. Thanks for reading.