Most Pythonic way to see if a file exists?

Question

I have two functions to see if a file exists, I am wondering which one of them is considered the most Pythonic, A, B or none? Is it a good practice to always use exceptions?

import os.path
from os import path

# Method A
def file_exists_A(file):

    try:
        with open(file, 'r') as f:
            print("Method A: file exists")
    except Exception as e:
        print('Method A: file not found\n')

# Method B
def file_exists_B(file):

    try:
        if path.exists(file):
            print("Method B: file exists")
    except Exception as e:
        print("Method B: file not found\n")

file_exists_A("file.txt")
#file_exists_B("file.txt")

Why do you need to write a function at all? Why not just use `os.path.exists("file.txt")`? — khelwood, May 07 '20 at 07:31
You're never going to see the print statement with 'file not found' in method B. It is only going to work if the file exists. You should replace the try except with a simple if else in the second example — Rajarishi Devarajan, May 07 '20 at 07:32
The accepted answer to the duplicate really goes into the nuances of which method is objectively best — Mad Physicist, May 07 '20 at 07:41

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered May 07 '20 at 07:33

3

I am a big fan of pathlib.

from pathlib import Path

if Path(filename).exists():
    print("It is there")
else:
    print("It is not there")

answered May 07 '20 at 07:33

Christian Sloper

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Depending on how you use it, this may be a bad way to do it. – Mad Physicist May 07 '20 at 07:42
@MadPhysicist Isn't that true of everything? – khelwood May 07 '20 at 07:46
@khelwood. Yes, but to different degrees. This one isn't subtle. – Mad Physicist May 07 '20 at 07:48

Most Pythonic way to see if a file exists?

1 Answers1