Creating lists of files with specific beginings and endings

Question

What I am trying to achieve is creating lists for each file that begins with a certain number and ends with ".shp". One list for all files that begins with 1 and ends with ".shp", one for all files that begins with 2 and ends with ".shp" and so on.

This is the snippet I'm working with:

from os.path import normpath
import os

path_temp2 = normpath(r'C:\\Users\\tlind\\Dropbox\\Documents\\Temp\\temp2layers\\')

merge_list = os.listdir(path_temp2)

for i in range(1,13):
    test = []
    check = str(i)
    res = [idx for idx in merge_list if idx.lower().startswith(check.lower())]
    test.append(res)

    for file in test:
        test2 = []
        if file.endswith('.shp'):
            test2.append(file)
        
        print(test2)

It returns: AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'endswith'

EDIT: This almost solves it:

from os.path import normpath
import os

path_temp2 = normpath(r'C:\\Users\\tlind\\Dropbox\\Documents\\Temp\\temp2layers\\')

merge_list = os.listdir(path_temp2)

for i in range(1,13):
    check = str(i)
    name_ext_matches = []
    name_matches = [idx for idx in merge_list if idx.lower().startswith(check.lower())]

    for file in name_matches:
    
        if file.endswith('.shp'):
            name_ext_matches.append(file)
    
    print(name_ext_matches)

There's a big DOH in this one. The first list includes 10, 11 and 12 of course. I need to find a way to work my way around that. Any one with any suggestions?

`res` is a list, and you're appending it to a list, so you'll end up with a list of lists. — MattDMo, Jan 02 '23 at 19:37
@schmack updated to the post. Perhaps you can help me out now? — Tobias Bowley, Jan 02 '23 at 21:12
@MattDMo updated to the post. Perhaps you can help me out now? — Tobias Bowley, Jan 02 '23 at 21:12
@TobiasBowley if you have a new problem with different code and different results, please ask a new question. Please include hard-coded example input, the output you're getting with the code, and the output you expect. — MattDMo, Jan 02 '23 at 21:35
This seems like either a typo or a duplicate of e.g. [What is the difference between Python's list methods append and extend?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/252703). — Karl Knechtel, Jan 02 '23 at 22:21

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 02 '23 at 19:37

2

list has no attribute endswith because you've made test a list of lists. You should be assigning to test, what you are currently assigning to res, or you should be iterating over res instead of test.

Right now, the value of test is a list whose first and only element is another list, which contains all the files which start with the string-value of i.

You can do something like:

for i in range(1,13):
    check = str(i)
    # all files starting with the string-value of `i`
    name_matches = [idx for idx in merge_list if idx.lower().startswith(check.lower())]

    for file in name_matches:
        # all files that start with `i` AND end with `.shp`
        name_ext_matches = []
        if file.endswith('.shp'):
            name_ext_matches.append(file)
        
        print(name_ext_matches)

answered Jan 02 '23 at 19:37

vijaysharma

21
1
5

This kind of works but it outputs loads of lists not just 12, which is what I'm trying to get. – Tobias Bowley Jan 02 '23 at 20:12
What I'm trying to get is "name_matches" minus everything but the .shp, basically. – Tobias Bowley Jan 02 '23 at 20:33
I've updated the post to use another approach. Perhaps you can shine some light now? – Tobias Bowley Jan 02 '23 at 21:12

Tobias Bowley · Answer 2 · 2023-01-02T22:32:10.767

0

Solved it by adding an underscore at the end of the number:

from os.path import normpath
import os

path_temp2 = normpath(r'C:\\Users\\tlind\\Dropbox\\Documents\\Temp\\temp2layers\\')

merge_list = os.listdir(path_temp2)

for i in range(1,13):
    check = str(i)+'_'
    name_ext_matches = []
    name_matches = [idx for idx in merge_list if idx.lower().startswith(check.lower())]

    for file in name_matches:
    
        if file.endswith('.shp'):
            name_ext_matches.append(file)
    
    print(name_ext_matches)

edited Jan 02 '23 at 22:32

answered Jan 02 '23 at 22:31

Tobias Bowley

45
5

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Jan 03 '23 at 03:29

Creating lists of files with specific beginings and endings

2 Answers2