Absolute path linux python

Handling file and directory Paths

There are two main modules in Python that deal with path manipulation. One is the os.path module and the other is the pathlib module.

The `pathlib` module was added in Python 3.4, offering an object-oriented way to handle file system paths.

Linux and Windows Paths

On Windows, paths are written using backslashes ( \ ) as the separator between folder names. On Unix based operating system such as macOS, Linux, and BSDs, the forward slash ( / ) is used as the path separator. Joining paths can be a headache if your code needs to work on different platforms.

Fortunately, Python provides easy ways to handle this. We will showcase how to deal with both, os.path.join and pathlib.Path.joinpath

Using os.path.join on Windows:

>>> import os >>> os.path.join('usr', 'bin', 'spam') # 'usr\\bin\\spam' 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> print(Path('usr').joinpath('bin').joinpath('spam')) # usr/bin/spam 

pathlib also provides a shortcut to joinpath using the / operator:

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> print(Path('usr') / 'bin' / 'spam') # usr/bin/spam 

Notice the path separator is different between Windows and Unix based operating system, that’s why you want to use one of the above methods instead of adding strings together to join paths together.

Joining paths is helpful if you need to create different file paths under the same directory.

Using os.path.join on Windows:

>>> my_files = ['accounts.txt', 'details.csv', 'invite.docx'] >>> for filename in my_files: ... print(os.path.join('C:\\Users\\asweigart', filename)) ... # C:\Users\asweigart\accounts.txt # C:\Users\asweigart\details.csv # C:\Users\asweigart\invite.docx 

>>> my_files = ['accounts.txt', 'details.csv', 'invite.docx'] >>> home = Path.home() >>> for filename in my_files: ... print(home / filename) ... # /home/asweigart/accounts.txt # /home/asweigart/details.csv # /home/asweigart/invite.docx 

The current working directory

>>> import os >>> os.getcwd() # 'C:\\Python34' >>> os.chdir('C:\\Windows\\System32') >>> os.getcwd() # 'C:\\Windows\\System32' 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> from os import chdir >>> print(Path.cwd()) # /home/asweigart >>> chdir('/usr/lib/python3.6') >>> print(Path.cwd()) # /usr/lib/python3.6 

Creating new folders

>>> import os >>> os.makedirs('C:\\delicious\\walnut\\waffles') 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> cwd = Path.cwd() >>> (cwd / 'delicious' / 'walnut' / 'waffles').mkdir() # Traceback (most recent call last): # File "", line 1, in # File "/usr/lib/python3.6/pathlib.py", line 1226, in mkdir # self._accessor.mkdir(self, mode) # File "/usr/lib/python3.6/pathlib.py", line 387, in wrapped # return strfunc(str(pathobj), *args) # FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/asweigart/delicious/walnut/waffles' 

Oh no, we got a nasty error! The reason is that the ‘delicious’ directory does not exist, so we cannot make the ‘walnut’ and the ‘waffles’ directories under it. To fix this, do:

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> cwd = Path.cwd() >>> (cwd / 'delicious' / 'walnut' / 'waffles').mkdir(parents=True) 

Absolute vs. Relative paths

There are two ways to specify a file path.

• An absolute path, which always begins with the root folder
• A relative path, which is relative to the program’s current working directory

There are also the dot ( . ) and dot-dot ( .. ) folders. These are not real folders, but special names that can be used in a path. A single period (“dot”) for a folder name is shorthand for “this directory.” Two periods (“dot-dot”) means “the parent folder.”

Handling Absolute paths

To see if a path is an absolute path:

>>> import os >>> os.path.isabs('/') # True >>> os.path.isabs('..') # False 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> Path('/').is_absolute() # True >>> Path('..').is_absolute() # False 

You can extract an absolute path with both os.path and pathlib

>>> import os >>> os.getcwd() '/home/asweigart' >>> os.path.abspath('..') '/home' 

from pathlib import Path print(Path.cwd()) # /home/asweigart print(Path('..').resolve()) # /home 

Handling Relative paths

You can get a relative path from a starting path to another path.

>>> import os >>> os.path.relpath('/etc/passwd', '/') # 'etc/passwd' 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> print(Path('/etc/passwd').relative_to('/')) # etc/passwd 

Path and File validity

Checking if a file/directory exists

>>> import os >>> os.path.exists('.') # True >>> os.path.exists('setup.py') # True >>> os.path.exists('/etc') # True >>> os.path.exists('nonexistentfile') # False 

from pathlib import Path >>> Path('.').exists() # True >>> Path('setup.py').exists() # True >>> Path('/etc').exists() # True >>> Path('nonexistentfile').exists() # False 

Checking if a path is a file

>>> import os >>> os.path.isfile('setup.py') # True >>> os.path.isfile('/home') # False >>> os.path.isfile('nonexistentfile') # False 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> Path('setup.py').is_file() # True >>> Path('/home').is_file() # False >>> Path('nonexistentfile').is_file() # False 

Checking if a path is a directory

>>> import os >>> os.path.isdir('/') # True >>> os.path.isdir('setup.py') # False >>> os.path.isdir('/spam') # False 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> Path('/').is_dir() # True >>> Path('setup.py').is_dir() # False >>> Path('/spam').is_dir() # False 

Getting a file’s size in bytes

>>> import os >>> os.path.getsize('C:\\Windows\\System32\\calc.exe') # 776192 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> stat = Path('/bin/python3.6').stat() >>> print(stat) # stat contains some other information about the file as well # os.stat_result(st_mode=33261, st_ino=141087, st_dev=2051, st_nlink=2, st_uid=0, # --snip-- # st_gid=0, st_size=10024, st_atime=1517725562, st_mtime=1515119809, st_ctime=1517261276) >>> print(stat.st_size) # size in bytes # 10024 

Listing directories

Listing directory contents using os.listdir on Windows:

>>> import os >>> os.listdir('C:\\Windows\\System32') # ['0409', '12520437.cpx', '12520850.cpx', '5U877.ax', 'aaclient.dll', # --snip-- # 'xwtpdui.dll', 'xwtpw32.dll', 'zh-CN', 'zh-HK', 'zh-TW', 'zipfldr.dll'] 

Listing directory contents using pathlib on *nix:

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> for f in Path('/usr/bin').iterdir(): ... print(f) ... # . # /usr/bin/tiff2rgba # /usr/bin/iconv # /usr/bin/ldd # /usr/bin/cache_restore # /usr/bin/udiskie # /usr/bin/unix2dos # /usr/bin/t1reencode # /usr/bin/epstopdf # /usr/bin/idle3 # . 

Directory file sizes

Directories themselves also have a size! So, you might want to check for whether a path is a file or directory using the methods in the methods discussed in the above section.

Using os.path.getsize() and os.listdir() together on Windows:

>>> import os >>> total_size = 0 >>> for filename in os.listdir('C:\\Windows\\System32'): ... total_size = total_size + os.path.getsize(os.path.join('C:\\Windows\\System32', filename)) ... >>> print(total_size) # 1117846456 

>>> from pathlib import Path >>> total_size = 0 >>> for sub_path in Path('/usr/bin').iterdir(): ... total_size += sub_path.stat().st_size ... >>> print(total_size) # 1903178911 

Copying files and folders

The shutil module provides functions for copying files, as well as entire folders.

>>> import shutil, os >>> os.chdir('C:\\') >>> shutil.copy('C:\\spam.txt', 'C:\\delicious') # C:\\delicious\\spam.txt' >>> shutil.copy('eggs.txt', 'C:\\delicious\\eggs2.txt') # 'C:\\delicious\\eggs2.txt' 

While shutil.copy() will copy a single file, shutil.copytree() will copy an entire folder and every folder and file contained in it:

>>> import shutil, os >>> os.chdir('C:\\') >>> shutil.copytree('C:\\bacon', 'C:\\bacon_backup') # 'C:\\bacon_backup' 

Moving and Renaming

>>> import shutil >>> shutil.move('C:\\bacon.txt', 'C:\\eggs') # 'C:\\eggs\\bacon.txt' 

The destination path can also specify a filename. In the following example, the source file is moved and renamed:

>>> shutil.move('C:\\bacon.txt', 'C:\\eggs\\new_bacon.txt') # 'C:\\eggs\\new_bacon.txt' 

If there is no eggs folder, then move() will rename bacon.txt to a file named eggs:

>>> shutil.move('C:\\bacon.txt', 'C:\\eggs') # 'C:\\eggs' 

Deleting files and folders

• Calling os.unlink(path) or Path.unlink() will delete the file at path.
• Calling os.rmdir(path) or Path.rmdir() will delete the folder at path. This folder must be empty of any files or folders.
• Calling shutil.rmtree(path) will remove the folder at path, and all files and folders it contains will also be deleted.

Walking a Directory Tree

>>> import os >>> >>> for folder_name, subfolders, filenames in os.walk('C:\\delicious'): ... print(f'The current folder is folder_name>') ... for subfolder in subfolders: ... print('SUBFOLDER OF : ') ... for filename in filenames: ... print('FILE INSIDE : filename') ... print('') ... # The current folder is C:\delicious # SUBFOLDER OF C:\delicious: cats # SUBFOLDER OF C:\delicious: walnut # FILE INSIDE C:\delicious: spam.txt # The current folder is C:\delicious\cats # FILE INSIDE C:\delicious\cats: catnames.txt # FILE INSIDE C:\delicious\cats: zophie.jpg # The current folder is C:\delicious\walnut # SUBFOLDER OF C:\delicious\walnut: waffles # The current folder is C:\delicious\walnut\waffles # FILE INSIDE C:\delicious\walnut\waffles: butter.txt 

`pathlib` provides a lot more functionality than the ones listed above, like getting file name, getting file extension, reading/writing a file without manually opening it, etc. See the official documentation if you intend to know more.

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How to get an absolute path in Python

Operating systems such as Windows, Linux, or macOS have different path structures in which operating system files are stored.

Therefore when you run Python scripts on these machines and want to fetch files or directories, you want to find the file’s absolute path relative to the current directory automatically instead of hardcoding it for every system.

An absolute path is also known as the full path and starts with / in Linux and macOS and C:/ on Windows.

To find an absolute path in Python you import the os module then you can find the current working directory using os.path.abspath(«insert-file-name-here») in your Python script.

What is an absolute path in Python?

An absolute path in Python is the full path starting from the root of the operating file system up until the working directory.

So let’s say you run your Python code in /Users/dannysteenman/home/projects/example-project/app.py . This is the entry point where you run the top-level code of your python module.

Then this is the absolute path of your working directory /Users/dannysteenman/home/projects/example-project/ .

How to find the absolute path in Python

As mentioned at the beginning of this article you can run your Python app on different operating systems, therefore you want to automatically find the full path of the file you wish to import in your code instead of hardcoding it.

So given a path such as «src/examplefile.txt» , how do you find the file’s absolute path relative to the current working directory ( /Users/dannysteenman/home/projects/example-project/ ) in Python?

To get the absolute path in Python you write the following code:

import os os.path.abspath("src/examplefile.txt")

To explain the Python code: first, you have to import the os module in Python so you can run operating system functionalities in your code.

Then you use the os.path library to return a normalized absolutized version of the pathname path.

This will result in the following output:

/Users/dannysteenman/home/projects/example-project/src/examplefile.txt

Conclusion

As you can see an absolute path helps you find the full path of a file or directory relative to the current working directory.

This is useful since you get the flexibility to find files or folders and return the correct path on different operating systems.

To get an absolute path in Python you use the os.path.abspath library. Insert your file name and it will return the full path relative from the working directory including the file.

If you need guidance on finding a relative path in Python, read the following article below.

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