05-21-2023, 10:15 AM
Python Get All TXT Files in a Folder
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<div class="kksr-legend" style="font-size: 19.2px;"> 5/5 – (1 vote) </div>
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<p>Imagine you have a project that requires you to process tons of text files, and these files are scattered throughout your folder hierarchy. By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to efficiently <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blog.finxter.com/find-all-files-in-directory-with-extension-txt/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://blog.finxter.com/find-all-files-in-directory-with-extension-txt/" target="_blank">fetch all the <code>.txt</code> files</a> in any folder using Python.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 1: The Os Module</h2>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os</code> module can be used to interact effectively with the file system. The method <code>os.listdir()</code> lists all files and directories in your target folder. You’ll use this method along with a <code>for</code> loop and the <code>endswith()</code> method to filter <code>.txt</code> files specifically. </p>
<p>Here’s the code snippet:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="6-7" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os directory = './your_folder/'
txt_files = [] for file in os.listdir(directory): if file.endswith('.txt'): txt_files.append(file) print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This code imports the <code>os</code> module, sets the target directory, and initializes an <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/how-to-create-an-empty-list-in-python/" data-type="post" data-id="453870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">empty list</a>. </p>
<p>The <code>for</code> loop iterates through all the files and checks for the <code>.txt</code> extension using the <code><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-string-endswith/" data-type="post" data-id="26009" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">endswith()</a></code> method. Matching files are added to the list, which is printed at the end.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 2: The Glob Module (My Fav <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4ab.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />)</h2>
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<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="679" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-310-1024x679.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378627" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-310-1024x679.png 1024w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...00x199.png 300w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...68x509.png 768w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...ge-310.png 1309w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
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<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">Another solution involves using the <code>glob</code> module, which allows you to find all the file paths in a directory that match a specific pattern. You can use the <code>glob.glob()</code> function to list all <code>.txt</code> files. </p>
<p>Here’s how you can do it:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import glob directory = './your_folder/'
txt_files = glob.glob(f'{directory}*.txt') print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This method imports the <code>glob</code> module, sets the target directory, and retrieves the list of text files using the <code>glob.glob()</code> function that filters file paths based on the given pattern (<code>*.txt</code>). The list of <code>.txt</code> files is then printed.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 3: os.listdir() and List Comprehension</h2>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os.listdir()</code> is a simple method to use when listing all files in a directory. You can iterate over all files obtain with this method using a simple <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/list-comprehension/" data-type="post" data-id="1171" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">list comprehension</a> statement such as <code>[file for file in os.listdir(dir_path) if file.endswith(".txt")]</code>. </p>
<p>See this example:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4-5" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os dir_path = "your_directory_path"
all_files = os.listdir(dir_path)
txt_files = [file for file in all_files if file.endswith(".txt")] print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This code will list all the text files in the specified directory using <code>os.listdir</code> function.<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4c3.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 4: Using os.scandir()</h2>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os.scandir()</code> method can provide more information about each file. Extracting the files from this more information-rich representation is a bit less concise but works just fine in this list comprehension <code>[entry.name for entry in os.scandir(dir_path) if entry.name.endswith(".txt") and entry.is_file()]</code>.</p>
<p>For instance, use the following code:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os dir_path = "your_directory_path"
txt_files = [entry.name for entry in os.scandir(dir_path) if entry.name.endswith(".txt") and entry.is_file()] print(txt_files)
</pre>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 5: Using glob.glob()</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="609" height="916" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-311.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378628" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-311.png 609w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...99x300.png 199w" sizes="(max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px" /></figure>
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<p>For a more concise solution, try the <code>glob.glob()</code> function from the <code>glob</code> library. Here’s the code snippet to list text files:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import glob dir_path = "your_directory_path"
txt_files = glob.glob(f"{dir_path}/*.txt") print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>The <code>glob.glob()</code> function returns a list of all text files with the specified pattern (in this case, <code>*.txt</code>).<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/2728.png" alt="✨" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 6: Using pathlib.Path.iterdir()</h2>
<p>Finally, the <code>pathlib.Path.iterdir</code> method offers another way to list text files in a directory. To use this method, simply import the <code>pathlib</code> library and write the following code:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">from pathlib import Path dir_path = Path("your_directory_path")
txt_files = [file.name for file in dir_path.iterdir() if file.is_file() and file.name.endswith(".txt")] print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>In this code, <code>pathlib.Path.iterdir</code> is iterator over the files in the directory and, when combined with list comprehensions, can efficiently list all text files.<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f389.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Iterating Through Directories</h2>
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<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="643" height="915" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-312.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378631" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-312.png 643w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...11x300.png 211w" sizes="(max-width: 643px) 100vw, 643px" /></figure>
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<p>In this section, you’ll learn how to iterate through directories using Python and get all the <code>.txt</code> files in a folder. </p>
<p>We’ll cover three methods: using the <code>for</code> loop method, working with the <code><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-os-walk-a-simple-illustrated-guide/" data-type="post" data-id="248394" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">os.walk()</a></code> function, and <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/i-used-this-python-script-to-rename-all-files-in-subfolders-recursive/" data-type="post" data-id="1046210" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recursively traversing directories</a> with a custom recursive function. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4c1.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Using the For Loop Method</h3>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">To get started, we’ll use the <code>os.listdir()</code> function with a <code>for</code> loop. This approach allows you to iterate over all files in a directory and filter by their extension. </p>
<p>This code lists all the <code>.txt</code> files in the specified directory using a simple <code>for</code> loop. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f44d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os directory = 'your_directory_path'
for filename in os.listdir(directory): if filename.endswith('.txt'): print(os.path.join(directory, filename))
</pre>
</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Working with the os.walk() Function</h3>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os.walk()</code> function is another powerful tool for iterating over files in directories. It enables you to traverse a directory tree and retrieve all files with a specific extension:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os root_dir = 'your_directory_path'
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(root_dir): for file in files: if file.endswith('.txt'): print(os.path.join(root, file))
</pre>
<p>This code explores the entire directory tree, including subdirectories, and prints out the full paths of <code>.txt</code> files. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f333.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>In fact, we have written a detailed article with a video on the function, feel free to check it out! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f447.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube"><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-get-all-txt-files-in-a-folder/"><img src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FenbzcMTml3o%2Fhqdefault.jpg" alt="YouTube Video"></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
<p class="has-base-2-background-color has-background"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f9d1-200d-1f4bb.png" alt="??" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <strong>Recommended</strong>: <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-os-walk-a-simple-illustrated-guide/" data-type="post" data-id="248394" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Python os.walk() – A Simple Illustrated Guide</a></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Recursively Traversing Directories with a Recursive Function</h3>
<p>Lastly, you could create a custom recursive function to traverse directories and collect <code>.txt</code> files. This method is particularly useful when working with different operating systems, like Windows and Unix:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">from pathlib import Path def find_txt_files(path: Path): txt_files = [] for item in path.iterdir(): if item.is_dir(): txt_files.extend(find_txt_files(item)) elif item.name.endswith('.txt'): txt_files.append(item) return txt_files directory = Path('your_directory_path')
txt_files = find_txt_files(directory)
print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This recursive function explores directories and subdirectories and returns a list of <code>.txt</code> files. This approach is more versatile as it leverages Python 3’s <code>pathlib</code> module. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f501.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Filtering Based on File Extension and Size</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="682" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-313-1024x682.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378632" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-313-1024x682.png 1024w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...00x200.png 300w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...68x511.png 768w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...ge-313.png 1308w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
</div>
<p>To get all the <code>.txt</code> files in a folder, you can use the <code>glob</code> module in Python, which provides an easy way to find files matching a specific pattern. </p>
<p>Here’s a simple code snippet to get started:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="generic" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import glob txt_files = glob.glob('path/to/your/folder/*.txt')
print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This code will provide the absolute paths of all the <code>.txt</code> files within the specified folder. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4c1.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>Now that you have the <code>.txt</code> files, you might want to filter them based on their size. To achieve this, you can use the <code>os</code> module. </p>
<p>Here’s an example of how to filter <code>.txt</code> files by size:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os
import glob min_size = 1000 # Replace with your desired minimum file size in bytes txt_files = glob.glob('path/to/your/folder/*.txt')
filtered_files = [file for file in txt_files if os.path.getsize(file) >= min_size] print(filtered_files)
</pre>
<p>In this code, <code>min_size</code> represents the minimum file size in bytes that you wish to retrieve. By using a <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/how-to-filter-a-list-in-python/" data-type="post" data-id="7586" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">list comprehension with a condition</a>, you can filter out the files that don’t meet your size requirements. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4cf.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>If you want to find <code>.txt</code> files not only in the target folder but also within its subdirectories, you can use the <code>**</code> pattern along with the <code>recursive</code> parameter:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">txt_files = glob.glob('path/to/your/folder/**/*.txt', recursive=True)
</pre>
<p>Using this approach, you can easily tailor your search to retrieve specific <code>.txt</code> files based on their size and location. With these tools at hand, you should be able to efficiently filter files in your Python projects. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f40d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Operating System Compatibility</h2>
<p>Python works well across different operating systems, including Unix and Windows. Thanks to its compatibility <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f91d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />, <em>you</em> can consistently use your code on different platforms. For this task, both the <code>os</code> and <code>glob</code> libraries are compatible with Unix and Windows systems, so you don’t have to worry about your text file retrieval code failing on either OS.</p>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">To get all the text files in a folder using Python, you can use the <code>os</code> and <code>glob</code> libraries. This works for all operating systems, i.e., Linux, Windows, Ubuntu, macOS. </p>
<p>Here’s a code snippet to achieve this:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os
import glob os.chdir("your_directory_path")
txt_files = glob.glob('*.txt')
print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>Replace “<code>your_directory_path</code>” with the path of your folder containing the txt files.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Recommended Video</h2>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube"><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-get-all-txt-files-in-a-folder/"><img src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FNiLhQy_iFU4%2Fhqdefault.jpg" alt="YouTube Video"></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
</div>
https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/2023/05/...-a-folder/
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<div class="kksr-legend" style="font-size: 19.2px;"> 5/5 – (1 vote) </div>
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<p>Imagine you have a project that requires you to process tons of text files, and these files are scattered throughout your folder hierarchy. By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to efficiently <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blog.finxter.com/find-all-files-in-directory-with-extension-txt/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://blog.finxter.com/find-all-files-in-directory-with-extension-txt/" target="_blank">fetch all the <code>.txt</code> files</a> in any folder using Python.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 1: The Os Module</h2>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os</code> module can be used to interact effectively with the file system. The method <code>os.listdir()</code> lists all files and directories in your target folder. You’ll use this method along with a <code>for</code> loop and the <code>endswith()</code> method to filter <code>.txt</code> files specifically. </p>
<p>Here’s the code snippet:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="6-7" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os directory = './your_folder/'
txt_files = [] for file in os.listdir(directory): if file.endswith('.txt'): txt_files.append(file) print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This code imports the <code>os</code> module, sets the target directory, and initializes an <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/how-to-create-an-empty-list-in-python/" data-type="post" data-id="453870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">empty list</a>. </p>
<p>The <code>for</code> loop iterates through all the files and checks for the <code>.txt</code> extension using the <code><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-string-endswith/" data-type="post" data-id="26009" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">endswith()</a></code> method. Matching files are added to the list, which is printed at the end.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 2: The Glob Module (My Fav <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4ab.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />)</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="679" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-310-1024x679.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378627" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-310-1024x679.png 1024w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...00x199.png 300w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...68x509.png 768w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...ge-310.png 1309w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
</div>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">Another solution involves using the <code>glob</code> module, which allows you to find all the file paths in a directory that match a specific pattern. You can use the <code>glob.glob()</code> function to list all <code>.txt</code> files. </p>
<p>Here’s how you can do it:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import glob directory = './your_folder/'
txt_files = glob.glob(f'{directory}*.txt') print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This method imports the <code>glob</code> module, sets the target directory, and retrieves the list of text files using the <code>glob.glob()</code> function that filters file paths based on the given pattern (<code>*.txt</code>). The list of <code>.txt</code> files is then printed.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 3: os.listdir() and List Comprehension</h2>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os.listdir()</code> is a simple method to use when listing all files in a directory. You can iterate over all files obtain with this method using a simple <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/list-comprehension/" data-type="post" data-id="1171" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">list comprehension</a> statement such as <code>[file for file in os.listdir(dir_path) if file.endswith(".txt")]</code>. </p>
<p>See this example:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4-5" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os dir_path = "your_directory_path"
all_files = os.listdir(dir_path)
txt_files = [file for file in all_files if file.endswith(".txt")] print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This code will list all the text files in the specified directory using <code>os.listdir</code> function.<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4c3.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 4: Using os.scandir()</h2>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os.scandir()</code> method can provide more information about each file. Extracting the files from this more information-rich representation is a bit less concise but works just fine in this list comprehension <code>[entry.name for entry in os.scandir(dir_path) if entry.name.endswith(".txt") and entry.is_file()]</code>.</p>
<p>For instance, use the following code:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os dir_path = "your_directory_path"
txt_files = [entry.name for entry in os.scandir(dir_path) if entry.name.endswith(".txt") and entry.is_file()] print(txt_files)
</pre>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 5: Using glob.glob()</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="609" height="916" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-311.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378628" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-311.png 609w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...99x300.png 199w" sizes="(max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px" /></figure>
</div>
<p>For a more concise solution, try the <code>glob.glob()</code> function from the <code>glob</code> library. Here’s the code snippet to list text files:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="4" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import glob dir_path = "your_directory_path"
txt_files = glob.glob(f"{dir_path}/*.txt") print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>The <code>glob.glob()</code> function returns a list of all text files with the specified pattern (in this case, <code>*.txt</code>).<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/2728.png" alt="✨" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Method 6: Using pathlib.Path.iterdir()</h2>
<p>Finally, the <code>pathlib.Path.iterdir</code> method offers another way to list text files in a directory. To use this method, simply import the <code>pathlib</code> library and write the following code:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">from pathlib import Path dir_path = Path("your_directory_path")
txt_files = [file.name for file in dir_path.iterdir() if file.is_file() and file.name.endswith(".txt")] print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>In this code, <code>pathlib.Path.iterdir</code> is iterator over the files in the directory and, when combined with list comprehensions, can efficiently list all text files.<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f389.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Iterating Through Directories</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="643" height="915" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-312.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378631" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-312.png 643w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...11x300.png 211w" sizes="(max-width: 643px) 100vw, 643px" /></figure>
</div>
<p>In this section, you’ll learn how to iterate through directories using Python and get all the <code>.txt</code> files in a folder. </p>
<p>We’ll cover three methods: using the <code>for</code> loop method, working with the <code><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-os-walk-a-simple-illustrated-guide/" data-type="post" data-id="248394" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">os.walk()</a></code> function, and <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/i-used-this-python-script-to-rename-all-files-in-subfolders-recursive/" data-type="post" data-id="1046210" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recursively traversing directories</a> with a custom recursive function. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4c1.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Using the For Loop Method</h3>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">To get started, we’ll use the <code>os.listdir()</code> function with a <code>for</code> loop. This approach allows you to iterate over all files in a directory and filter by their extension. </p>
<p>This code lists all the <code>.txt</code> files in the specified directory using a simple <code>for</code> loop. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f44d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os directory = 'your_directory_path'
for filename in os.listdir(directory): if filename.endswith('.txt'): print(os.path.join(directory, filename))
</pre>
</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Working with the os.walk() Function</h3>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">The <code>os.walk()</code> function is another powerful tool for iterating over files in directories. It enables you to traverse a directory tree and retrieve all files with a specific extension:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os root_dir = 'your_directory_path'
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(root_dir): for file in files: if file.endswith('.txt'): print(os.path.join(root, file))
</pre>
<p>This code explores the entire directory tree, including subdirectories, and prints out the full paths of <code>.txt</code> files. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f333.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>In fact, we have written a detailed article with a video on the function, feel free to check it out! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f447.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube"><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-get-all-txt-files-in-a-folder/"><img src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FenbzcMTml3o%2Fhqdefault.jpg" alt="YouTube Video"></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
<p class="has-base-2-background-color has-background"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f9d1-200d-1f4bb.png" alt="??" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <strong>Recommended</strong>: <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-os-walk-a-simple-illustrated-guide/" data-type="post" data-id="248394" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Python os.walk() – A Simple Illustrated Guide</a></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Recursively Traversing Directories with a Recursive Function</h3>
<p>Lastly, you could create a custom recursive function to traverse directories and collect <code>.txt</code> files. This method is particularly useful when working with different operating systems, like Windows and Unix:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">from pathlib import Path def find_txt_files(path: Path): txt_files = [] for item in path.iterdir(): if item.is_dir(): txt_files.extend(find_txt_files(item)) elif item.name.endswith('.txt'): txt_files.append(item) return txt_files directory = Path('your_directory_path')
txt_files = find_txt_files(directory)
print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This recursive function explores directories and subdirectories and returns a list of <code>.txt</code> files. This approach is more versatile as it leverages Python 3’s <code>pathlib</code> module. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f501.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Filtering Based on File Extension and Size</h2>
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="682" src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-313-1024x682.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1378632" srcset="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image-313-1024x682.png 1024w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...00x200.png 300w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...68x511.png 768w, https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/uplo...ge-313.png 1308w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>
</div>
<p>To get all the <code>.txt</code> files in a folder, you can use the <code>glob</code> module in Python, which provides an easy way to find files matching a specific pattern. </p>
<p>Here’s a simple code snippet to get started:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="generic" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import glob txt_files = glob.glob('path/to/your/folder/*.txt')
print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>This code will provide the absolute paths of all the <code>.txt</code> files within the specified folder. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4c1.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>Now that you have the <code>.txt</code> files, you might want to filter them based on their size. To achieve this, you can use the <code>os</code> module. </p>
<p>Here’s an example of how to filter <code>.txt</code> files by size:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os
import glob min_size = 1000 # Replace with your desired minimum file size in bytes txt_files = glob.glob('path/to/your/folder/*.txt')
filtered_files = [file for file in txt_files if os.path.getsize(file) >= min_size] print(filtered_files)
</pre>
<p>In this code, <code>min_size</code> represents the minimum file size in bytes that you wish to retrieve. By using a <a href="https://blog.finxter.com/how-to-filter-a-list-in-python/" data-type="post" data-id="7586" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">list comprehension with a condition</a>, you can filter out the files that don’t meet your size requirements. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4cf.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>If you want to find <code>.txt</code> files not only in the target folder but also within its subdirectories, you can use the <code>**</code> pattern along with the <code>recursive</code> parameter:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">txt_files = glob.glob('path/to/your/folder/**/*.txt', recursive=True)
</pre>
<p>Using this approach, you can easily tailor your search to retrieve specific <code>.txt</code> files based on their size and location. With these tools at hand, you should be able to efficiently filter files in your Python projects. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f40d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Operating System Compatibility</h2>
<p>Python works well across different operating systems, including Unix and Windows. Thanks to its compatibility <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f91d.png" alt="?" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />, <em>you</em> can consistently use your code on different platforms. For this task, both the <code>os</code> and <code>glob</code> libraries are compatible with Unix and Windows systems, so you don’t have to worry about your text file retrieval code failing on either OS.</p>
<p class="has-global-color-8-background-color has-background">To get all the text files in a folder using Python, you can use the <code>os</code> and <code>glob</code> libraries. This works for all operating systems, i.e., Linux, Windows, Ubuntu, macOS. </p>
<p>Here’s a code snippet to achieve this:</p>
<pre class="EnlighterJSRAW" data-enlighter-language="python" data-enlighter-theme="" data-enlighter-highlight="" data-enlighter-linenumbers="" data-enlighter-lineoffset="" data-enlighter-title="" data-enlighter-group="">import os
import glob os.chdir("your_directory_path")
txt_files = glob.glob('*.txt')
print(txt_files)
</pre>
<p>Replace “<code>your_directory_path</code>” with the path of your folder containing the txt files.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Recommended Video</h2>
<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube"><a href="https://blog.finxter.com/python-get-all-txt-files-in-a-folder/"><img src="https://blog.finxter.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FNiLhQy_iFU4%2Fhqdefault.jpg" alt="YouTube Video"></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
</div>
https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/2023/05/...-a-folder/