Do you want to know where your Python files are stored on your computer? Here in this guide, we will show you how to use Python directory management, a helpful tool for managing your Python files.
Python has a standardized module structure, making it easy to read, write, and maintain code. It also supports functional programming, making it well-suited for data analysis and machine learning tasks. In this article, we will look at the different directories that your python files might live in, and we will show you how to use the python directory to keep your code organized and easy to access.
Table of Contents
What is Directory in Python?
A computer’s file system contains directories, which are used to store and locate files. When there are lots of files to process in our Python application, we may structure our code into several directories to make things more manageable. A tree of directories is formed by the hierarchical organization of directories. Parent-child relationships exist in directories. A directory is also known as a folder.
Python Directory Management: Using Commands
1. Making New Directory: Using mkdir() method
The mkdir() method in Python creates a new directory. It takes two arguments, the first of which specifies the name of the directory, and the second argument specifies its path. If no path information is provided, it assumes the files will be placed into the current working directory.
import os
os.chdir("C:\python")
os.mkdir("python1") Output
Also learn more about, how to create directory in python by using different methods in detail.
2. Get Current Working Directory: Using getcwd() method
The getcwd() method in Python provides you with the current working directory. This can be useful for various purposes, such as accessing files and directories inside your current project or module.
By importing an os module, a python library that provides functionality for working with files and directories. It includes functions for manipulating file paths, reading and writing files, operating on directory contents, checking the statuses of files and folders, and listing items in a directory or list of file objects containing lists of filenames.
Let us have a quick look at the below code snippet to understand how to use this library and the method to check the current directory
import os
cwd = os.getcwd()
print(cwd) Output
3. Changing Current Working Directory: Using chdir( ) method
The chdir() method in python allows you to change the working directory of a program. This can be useful if you need to move your codebase from one location to another or if you want to reference a file from outside of the current folder.
The chdir() method takes two arguments: the new and old paths. If no argument is given, it will use the system drive as default for both paths.
Consider the following code snippet for a better understanding of the chdir() method:
import os
print("current working directory", os.getcwd())
##cwd ==> current working directory
path="C:\python"
os.chdir(path)
print("current working directory", os.getcwd()) Output
4. Traverse a Directory: Using os.walk method
Os.walk is a built-in function in Python that allows you to traverse through all the files and folders in a given directory structure. This can be useful for finding specific files or just getting an overview of your project’s structure. For example, you can use the os.walk function to check whether you need information about where specific files are located on your computer or want to take advantage of its more advanced functions.
Consider the below code example to understand how to use the os.walk function to traverse a directory:
import os
path = os.path.join("C:\pyfaryal")
if os.path.exists(path):
print(path + ' : exists')
if os.path.isdir(path):
print(path + ' : is a directory')
rootdir = "C:\pyfaryal"
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(rootdir):
## os.walk is method to traverse directory
print("{0} has {1} files".format(root, len(files))) Output
5. Delete Directory: Using rmdir( ) method
The rmdir method in Python allows you to delete a directory or folder. This can be useful if you want to clear out some space on your hard drive or if you are moving a file. To use this method, first create a list of the directories you want to delete. Next, use the dir() function to get information about each directory in the list. Finally, use the rm( ) function to remove each directory from your list.
Consider the below code example to know how to delete any specific directory in Python
import os
dir = os.path.join("C:\pyfaryal","python1")
if os.path.exists(dir):
os.rmdir(dir)
## rmdir => remove directory
print(dir + ' is removed.') Output
6. Rename Directory in Python
Rename directory in python is a command that allows you to change the name of a directory. This can be useful if you want to rename a directory for any reason, such as when moving files within your project or changing the name of an existing file. It accepts two arguments, old name and new name, which are the names of the files or directories you want to rename. If no argument is provided, it will use the current name of the file as its old name and print out what would be their corresponding paths if they were renamed.
Let us see the following code example to understand how to change the name of any specific directory in python.
import os
oldpath = os.path.join("C:\python")
newpath = os.path.join("C:\pyfaryal")
if os.path.exists(oldpath):
os.rename(oldpath, newpath)
print("'{0}' is renamed to '{1}'".format(oldpath,newpath)) Output
7. Listing the Files in a Directory
A list directory is a particular type of Python file that stores lists of data. This can be useful for organizing and managing large amounts of information, whether it is filed you want to keep track of or data sets you need to process. Lists can also be convenient storage containers for dictionary-style collections, making them ideal for working with text data.
Let us consider the below code example in which we have to use listdir to print the list of directories and files in a specific folder:
import os
path = r"C:\python"
l= os.listdir(path)
##l refers to list
print (l) Output
8. Test if a Path is a Directory in Python
A path is a sequence of characters that identify the location of a file or folder on your computer. You can use the Path ()function in Python to get information about a path. For example, the os.path module may test if a path is a directory in Python. This module has a function called exists that you can use to test whether or not a particular file or directory exists on your system.
To check whether the Path is a directory or not, consider the below code snippet.
import os
path = os.path.join("C:\pyfaryal")
if os.path.exists(path):
print(path + ' : exists')
if os.path.isdir(path):
print(path + ' : is a directory') Output
9. Temporary Directory
A temporary directory is a folder on your computer that stores files you do not want to keep permanently. When the file is no longer needed, it is automatically deleted from the temporary directory. This prevents any files stored in this folder from taking up valuable space on your hard drive and slowing down your computer.
This feature can help store temporary files such as images or scripts or for keeping outdated versions of files out of sight.
Let us consider the following code snippet to understand how to create a temporary directory in python.
import os
import tempfile
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tempdir:
## tempdir is use to create temporary directory
print(f'temporary directory {tempdir}')
Output
FAQs
What is the difference between del and rd commands?
The del and rd commands delete files and folders, respectively. They can be used with either the command line or within a batch file. The del command deletes the file or folder, while the rd command removes any subfolders beneath it.
How to list non-hidden files and directories in windows using Python?
In order to list non-hidden files and directories using Python, you can use the os.listdir() function. This function takes a path as an argument and returns a list of all the file names and subdirectories within that path. For example, if you wanted to list all the .py files in your current directory, you would use os.listdir().
CONCLUSION
The objective of this article is to have you familiarize yourself with the Python directory management. This helps us keep track of all the files stored in our system and makes it easy for users to navigate through them. In addition, we discussed some ways you can use python directory structures to write better Python applications. Hopefully, this article may help you in learning about the python directory. Thanks for reading.
