This article introduces common methods in Python to use the os module to process file paths and directories. 1. Use os.getcwd() to get the current working directory, and use os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)); 2. It is recommended to use os.path.join() to ensure cross-platform compatibility. The parsing path can be os.path.basename, os.path.dirname, os.path.split and os.path.splitext; 3. Use os.makedirs() to create a directory and it is recommended to set exist_ok=True, use os.rmdir() to delete an empty directory, and use shutil.rmtree() to delete a non-empty directory; 4. Use os.listdir() to list the contents of the directory, or os.walk() to recursively traverse the entire directory tree, suitable for batch processing and searching files. Mastering these techniques can help to efficiently handle file system-related tasks.

Handling file paths and directories is a very common task in programming, especially when interacting with the operating system. Python's os module provides a variety of ways to manipulate paths, create/delete directories, and traverse file structures. This article will introduce several key usage tips and precautions.

Get the current working directory

Sometimes you need to know the directory where the program is running. You can use os.getcwd() to get the current working directory:

 import os
print(os.getcwd())

This function returns the location where you were when you executed the script, not the location of the script file itself. If you want to get the directory where the script file is located, you can use the following method:

 script_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

This is useful when organizing project structures or reading relative path resources.

Splicing and parsing paths

Manual stitching paths are prone to errors, especially when cross-platform development (such as Windows and Linux use different separators). It is recommended to use the os.path.join() function to safely splice paths:

 path = os.path.join('folder', 'subfolder', 'file.txt')

It will automatically select the appropriate path separator according to the operating system. If you want to parse an existing path string, you can use:

• os.path.basename(path) : Get the file name part
• os.path.dirname(path) : Get the directory part
• os.path.split(path) : Get the directory and file name at the same time
• os.path.splitext(filename) : Separate filename and extension

These functions can help you process path information more flexibly in different scenarios.

Create and delete directories

Sometimes we need to make sure that a directory exists before we can continue to perform subsequent operations. You can use os.makedirs() to create multi-layer directories:

 os.makedirs('a/b/c', exist_ok=True)

exist_ok=True parameter means that if the directory already exists, there will be no error. When deleting a directory, if it is an empty directory, you can use os.rmdir() ; if the directory is not empty, you may need to use shutil.rmtree() (although it does not belong to the os module, it is very practical in this case).

Commonly used operations include:

• Make sure the directory exists before writing to the file
• Clear content before deleting temporary directories
• Bulk creation of test directory structures

Iterate over files in the directory

To find all files or subdirectories in a directory, you can usually use os.listdir() or os.walk() .

• os.listdir('mydir') will list all files and subdirectories in this directory.
• If you want to recursively access the entire directory tree, os.walk() is more suitable:

 for root, dirs, files in os.walk('start_dir'):
    print(f"Current directory: {root}")
    print("Contained subdirectories:", dirs)
    print("Included files:", files)

This function is often used to batch process files, search for specific types of files, etc.

Basically that's it. With these basic operations mastered, you can more easily handle various file system-related tasks. What is not complicated but is easy to ignore is the path stitching and the understanding of the current directory. If you are not careful, the file will not be found.

The above is the detailed content of Working with File Paths and Directories Using Python's os Module. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!