os : operating system interfaces module in Python

Functions	Details
mkdir()	Create directory
walk()	path, directories and files of sub -directories

Getting the os name

Name of the operating system.

import os
print(os.name) # nt

Current working directory

print(os.getcwd()) # c:\Users\DellHP

Change directory

import os
print(os.getcwd()) # c:\Users\DellHP
path='D:\\my_dir'
os.chdir(path)
print(os.getcwd()) # D:\my_dir

Changing to parent directory

os.chdir('..')

Directory Listing by listdir()

Returns a list of directories and files of given path. If input path is not given then a list of files and diectoris of current working directory is returned.

import os
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\"  # Directory Path
print(os.listdir(path))

expanduser

Users home directory

import os
print(os.path.expanduser('~\\test.txt'))

Output

C:\Users\HP\test.txt

Checking Path

Return True if path or open file decription is avilable. Return False otherwise.

import os
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\"  # Directory Path
print(os.path.exists(path)) # True

For a file

import os
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\test3.png"  #  file path
print(os.path.exists(path)) # True

isdir()

Returns True for directory.

import os
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\test3.png"  # File Path
print(os.path.isdir(path)) # False
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\"  # Directory Path
print(os.path.isdir(path)) # True

splitext()

Split the path into a pair. path=root + ext

import os
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\test3.png"  #  Path
print(os.path.splitext(path)) # ('E:\\testing\\images\\test3', '.png')
print(os.path.splitext(path)[0])  #E:\testing\images\test3
print(os.path.splitext(path)[1])  #.png

Get file creation and file modifiction date and time

Use strftime() to get different date and time format output. Here getmtime() returns the file modified timestamp and getctime() returns file creation timestamp.

import os
from datetime import datetime
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\test3.png"  # Directory Path
t_stamp=os.path.getmtime(path) # for file modificaton time
#t_stamp=os.path.getctime(path) # for file Creation time
dt_mod = datetime.fromtimestamp(t_stamp) # date object 
print('File Modified on:', dt_mod)  # Prting date and time 
m_date = datetime.strftime(dt_mod, '%Y-%m-%d') # Change format 
print(m_date)

File size

In below code we can include this line with getsize() to get the file size in bytes.

size=os.path.getsize(path+f)

File Modified date, file extension and file size

Collecting all files with details from the input directory and creating DataFrame Part II

import os
from datetime import datetime
#path = "E:\\testing\\images\\test3.png"  # Directory Path
path = "E:\\testing\\"  # Directory Path
files=os.listdir(path)
for f in files:
    t_stamp=os.path.getmtime(path+f) # for file modificaton time
    #t_stamp=os.path.getctime(path) # for file Creation time
    f_name,f_extension=os.path.splitext(path+f)
    size=os.path.getsize(path+f)
    dt_mod = datetime.fromtimestamp(t_stamp) # date object 
    #print('File Modified on:', dt_mod)  # Prting date and time 
    m_date = datetime.strftime(dt_mod, '%Y-%m-%d') # Change format 
    print(f, f_extension, m_date,size)

Above code is integrated inside Tkinter GUI

OSError

While using above functions, for any system related errors we will get OSError. We can use try except error handling to display message saying error details. Here is a code to raise error while deleting directories.

import os
path='D:\\my_dir1\\my_dir2\\my_dir3\\my_dir4'
#os.makedirs(path) # create all directories in the path
try:
    os.rmdir(path) # delete directory my_dir4 
except OSError as e:
    print(e) # Specific error message 
    print ("Failed to delete %s " % path)
else:
    print ("Successfully deleted the directory %s " % path)

Output ( my_dir4 is not available to delete )

[WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified: 'D:\\my_dir1\\my_dir2\\my_dir3\\my_dir4'
Failed to delete D:\my_dir1\my_dir2\my_dir3\my_dir4

remove() : Deleting file

Using file path we can delete the file by using remove()

import os
path='D:\\testing\\my_db\\my_db.db' # update your path
try:
    os.remove(path) # delete directory my_dir4 
except OSError as e:
    print(e) # Specific error message 
    print ("Failed to delete %s " % path)
else:
    print ("Successfully deleted the file %s " % path)

Printing to printer

import os
path = "E:\\testing\\images\\test.txt"  # path to file. 
os.startfile(path, "print")

Printing PDF file

Install these libraries

import win32api
import win32print 
# A List containing the system printers
all_printers = [printer[2] for printer in win32print.EnumPrinters(2)]
# Update the default printer or ask user to select.
win32print.SetDefaultPrinter(all_printers[2]) # Update your printers

path2 = "F:\\testing\\images\\certificate_12.pdf" # Path of  PDF file
win32api.ShellExecute(0, "print", path2, None, ".", 0)

Checking links in all pages of a directory

import re,os
file_name_to_check='pb-check-demo.php'

path1='C:/xampp/htdocs/example/dir_name/' # dir path

file_list=os.listdir(path1)
if(file_name_to_check in file_list):
    print('File is there, checking')
    for f in file_list:
        if(os.path.getsize(path1+f)>500):
            filename,file_extension=os.path.splitext(path1+f)
    
            if(file_extension=='.php'): # check this extension only
                fob= open(path1+f,'r',encoding='utf8',errors='ignore')
                data=fob.read() # collect data 
                fob.close() # close file object 
                urls1 = re.findall(r'href=[\'"]?([^\'" >]+)', data,re.IGNORECASE)
                if(file_name_to_check in urls1):
                    print(f)
else:
    print('File is not there, check the name and then submit. ')

Check presence of string inside all files of a directory

Inside the directory check for file names having tkinter and inside the file not having the string www.youtube.
We can use regular expression or find() to search for strings.

import re,os
path1='C:/xampp/htdocs/dir_name/python/' # dir path
file_list=os.listdir(path1) # List of files 
for f in file_list:
    #if re.search('tkinter',f, re.IGNORECASE):
    if f.lower().find('tkinter')>=0: # check string in file name
        #print(f)
        fob= open(path1+f,'r',encoding='utf8',errors='ignore')
        data=fob.read().lower() # collect data 
        fob.close() # close file object 
        if data.find('www.youtube')<0: # not present 
            print(f)

List the file if string is not present inside the file

import re,os
path1='C:/xampp/htdocs/dir_name/python/' # dir path
file_list=os.listdir(path1) # List of files 
total=0
for f in file_list:
    #if re.search('tkinter',f, re.IGNORECASE):
    #if f.lower().find('tkinter')>=0: # check string in file name
        #print(f)
    if(os.path.getsize(path1+f)>500):
        filename,file_extension=os.path.splitext(path1+f)
    
        if(file_extension=='.php'): # check this extension only   
            fob= open(path1+f,'r',encoding='utf8',errors='ignore')
            data=fob.read().lower() # collect data 
            fob.close() # close file object 
        #if data.find('www.youtube')<0: # not present 
            if data.find('breadcrumb')<0: # not present 
                print(f)
                total=total+1
print("Total files : ",len(file_list),", Not having string : ",total)

All files with details of a directory in Excel

This code example demonstrates how to use the `os` module in Python to get a list of all files in a directory, along with their details such as file size, creation time or modification time. This information can be useful for various tasks such as file management, data analysis, and system administration.

The code uses the os.listdir() function to get a list of all files in the specified directory. It then uses a for loop to iterate through the list of files and retrieve their details.

We are using one list of directories and against each directory we are creating one excel file.

import os
from datetime import datetime
import pandas as pd

# source directory list to get list of files inside the directory
l1=['javascript_tutorial','php_tutorial','html_tutorial','sql_tutorial','python']
for d in l1:
    path = "C:\\xampp\\htdocs\\plus2net\\"+d+"\\"  # full path to directory
    f_x='C:\\data2\\'+d+'.xlsx' #path with name, to store final excel file for directory
    files=os.listdir(path) # List of files in the directory
    df = pd.DataFrame(columns = ['f_name', 'dt', 'size']) #create blank DataFrame
    df['dt'] = pd.to_datetime(df['dt']) # change to date column
    for f in files: # list of files looping 
        f_name,f_extension=os.path.splitext(path+f)
        if(f_extension=='.php'): # To check only .php file extensions
            size=os.path.getsize(path+f)
            t_stamp=os.path.getmtime(path+f) # for file modificaton time
            #t_stamp=os.path.getctime(path) # for file Creation time
            dt_mod = datetime.fromtimestamp(t_stamp) # date object
            #print('File Modified on:', dt_mod)  # Prting date and time
            m_date = datetime.strftime(dt_mod, '%Y-%m-%d') # Change format
            #print(f, f_extension, m_date,size)
            df2 = pd.DataFrame({'f_name': [f], 'dt': [m_date],'size':[size]})
            df=pd.concat([df,df2]) # add row to DataFrame
            #df = df.append({'f_name' : f, 'dt' : m_date, 'size' : size},ignore_index = True)
    #print(df.head())
    df.to_excel(f_x,index=False) # create excel file with file data

The output of the code will be a table containing the file name, size, creation time, or modification time for all files in the current working directory. This information can be useful for various purposes, such as identifying large files, finding recently modified files, or organizing files by their creation or modification dates.
In place of Pandas to_excel() we can use to_csv() to create csv file.

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os operating system interfaces module