Python – How to list all files in a directory?

By mkyong | Updated: December 21, 2018

Viewed: 10,945 (+39 pv/w)

Tags: glob io os.walker python

In Python, we can use os.walker or glob to create a find() like function to search or list files or folders in a specified directory and also it’s subdirectories.

1. os.walker

1.1 List all .txt files in a specified directory + subdirectories.

import os

path = 'c:\\projects\\hc2\\'

files = []
# r=root, d=directories, f = files
for r, d, f in os.walk(path):
    for file in f:
        if '.txt' in file:
            files.append(os.path.join(r, file))

for f in files:
    print(f)

Output

c:\projects\hc2\app\readme.txt
c:\projects\hc2\app\release.txt
c:\projects\hc2\web\readme.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\afrinic.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\apnic.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\arin.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\lacnic.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\ripe.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\out\test\resources\asn\afrinic\3068.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\out\test\resources\asn\afrinic\37018.txt
//...

1.2 List all directories in a specified directory + subdirectories.

import os

path = 'c:\\projects\\hc2\\'

folders = []

# r=root, d=directories, f = files
for r, d, f in os.walk(path):
    for folder in d:
        folders.append(os.path.join(r, folder))

for f in folders:
    print(f)

Output

c:\projects\hc2\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\production\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\production\classes\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\production\classes\com\
//...

2. glob

Changed in version 3.5: Support for recursive globs using **.

2.1 List all .txt files in a specified directory + subdirectories (**).

import glob

path = 'c:\\projects\\hc2\\'

files = [f for f in glob.glob(path + "**/*.txt", recursive=True)]

for f in files:
    print(f)

Output

c:\projects\hc2\app\readme.txt
c:\projects\hc2\app\release.txt
c:\projects\hc2\web\readme.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\afrinic.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\apnic.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\arin.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\lacnic.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\download\ripe.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\out\test\resources\asn\afrinic\3068.txt
c:\projects\hc2\whois\out\test\resources\asn\afrinic\37018.txt
//...

2.2 List all directories in a specified directory + subdirectories (**).

import glob

folders = [f for f in glob.glob(path + "**/", recursive=True)]

for f in folders:
    print(f)

Output

c:\projects\hc2\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\production\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\production\classes\
c:\projects\hc2\analyzer\out\production\classes\com\
//...

References

1. Pyhton docs – glob
2. Python docs – os.walker