Simplest way to get the equivalent of "find ." in python?

Question

What is the simplest way to get the full recursive list of files inside a folder with python? I know about os.walk(), but it seems overkill for just getting the unfiltered list of all files. Is it really the only option?

Does this answer your question? [Recursive sub folder search and return files in a list python](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18394147/recursive-sub-folder-search-and-return-files-in-a-list-python) — Tomerikoo, Nov 16 '21 at 15:08

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 14 '12 at 09:00

19

There's nothing preventing you from creating your own function:

import os

def listfiles(folder):
    for root, folders, files in os.walk(folder):
        for filename in folders + files:
            yield os.path.join(root, filename)

You can use it like so:

for filename in listfiles('/etc/'):
    print filename

edited Sep 14 '12 at 09:00

Lauritz V. Thaulow

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answered Sep 14 '12 at 08:43

Blender

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Thanks! I just wanted to make sure this function wasn't already a part of the standard library. – static_rtti Sep 14 '12 at 08:43
Nice solution! But `find .` also lists directories. The fix is very easy though. :) – Lauritz V. Thaulow Sep 14 '12 at 08:55

Martijn Pieters · Answer 2 · 2012-09-14T09:07:59.543

13

os.walk() is not overkill by any means. It can generate your list of files and directories in a jiffy:

files = [os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
    for (dirpath, dirs, files) in os.walk('.')
    for filename in (dirs + files)]

You can turn this into a generator, to only process one path at a time and safe on memory.

edited Sep 14 '12 at 09:07

answered Sep 14 '12 at 08:45

Martijn Pieters

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score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 14 '12 at 21:03

3

You could also use the find program itself from Python by using sh

import sh
text_files = sh.find(".", "-iname", "*.txt")

answered Sep 14 '12 at 21:03

amoffat

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`sh` is not a builtin, by the way. I assumed it was because it sounded familiar. – Noumenon Mar 19 '23 at 19:33

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 16 '21 at 14:56

2

pathlib.Path.rglob is pretty simple. It lists the entire directory tree

(The argument is a filepath search pattern. "*" means list everything)

import pathlib


for path in pathlib.Path("directory_to_list/").rglob("*"):
    print(path)

answered Nov 16 '21 at 14:56

Miłosz Łakomy

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 14 '12 at 08:36

Either that or manually recursing with isdir() / isfile() and listdir() or you could use subprocess.check_output() and call find .. Bascially os.walk() is highest level, slightly lower level is semi-manual solution based on listdir() and if you want the same output find . would give you for some reason you can make a system call with subprocess.

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 27 '23 at 03:20

os.walk() is hard to use, just kick it and use pathlib instead.

Here is a python function mimicking a similar function of list.files in R language.

def list_files(path,pattern,full_names=False,recursive=True):
    if(recursive):
        files=pathlib.Path(path).rglob(pattern)
    else:
        files=pathlib.Path(path).glob(pattern)

    if full_names:
        files=[str(f) for f in files]
    else:
        files=[f.name for f in files]
    return(files)

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 14 '12 at 08:44

0

import os
path = "path/to/your/dir"
for (path, dirs, files) in os.walk(path):
    print files

Is this overkill, or am I missing something?

answered Sep 14 '12 at 08:44

verbsintransit

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You are absolutely right. It looks way more difficult than it actually is. – Hans Then Sep 14 '12 at 09:40

Simplest way to get the equivalent of "find ." in python?

7 Answers7