Python Data Persistence – File/Directory Management Functions

Python Data Persistence – File/Directory Management Functions

We normally use operating system’s GUI utilities or DOS commands to manage directories, copy, and move files etc. The os module provides useful functions to perform these tasks programmatically. os .mkdir ( ) function creates a new directory at given path. The path argument may be absolute or relative to the current directory. Use chdir ( ) function to set current working directory at the desired path. The getcwd ( ) function returns the current working directory path.

Example

>>> os.mkdir('mydir')
>>> os.path.abspath('mydir')
'E:\\python37\\mydir'
>>> os.chdir('mydir')
>>> os.getcwd()
'E:\\python37\\mydir'

You can remove a directory only if the given path to rmdir ( ) function is not the current working directory path, and it is empty.

Example

>>> os.chdir( ' . . ' ) #parent directory becomes current working directory
>>> os.getcwd ( )
'E:\\python37'
>>> os.rmdir('mydir')

• In Python, How do you Rename a File or Directory?
• Python Data Presistence – os Module
• How to Create a Directory in Python?

The rename ( ) and remove ( ) functions respectively change the name of a file and delete a file. Another utility function is listdir () which returns a list object comprising of file and subdirectory names in a given path.