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Python – How to list all files in a directory?

By mkyong | December 24, 2018 | Viewed : 96,881 | +6,511 pv/w

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
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7/17/2019 Python – How to list all files in a directory? – Mkyong.com

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
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7/17/2019 Python – How to list all files in a directory? – Mkyong.com

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\

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7/17/2019 Python – How to list all files in a directory? – Mkyong.com

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

glob io os.walker python

About the Author

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mkyong

Founder of Mkyong.com, love Java and open source stuff. Follow him on Twitter. If you like my tutorials,
consider make a donation to these charities.

Comments

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2 2 0 4
Puneet
HeloldanielCharles

newest oldest most voted

daniel
daniel
Guest

Your article helped me!

Thanks a lot!

3 Reply 1 month ago

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7/17/2019 Python – How to list all files in a directory? – Mkyong.com

Charles
Charles
Guest

Do you know of any way to carry out the task of listing all files in a web directory? I am trying to do a mass
download of images from a web directory. Do you know how to get the list of names or would you suggest a
method to download all of the contents of a web directory from a server? Thanks

0 Reply 2 months ago

Helol Helol

Guest
hi

0 Reply 29 days ago

Puneet Puneet

Guest
You should try web scraping , there are lot of good library in python , which you can use for this, Let
me know what is the exact need and i can share some code or some ideas

0 Reply 28 days ago

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