6 Helpful OS Module Methods

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Aya Bouchiha

Hello,
I'm Aya Bouchiha,
today,
I'm going to share with you 6 useful os module methods.
Firstly, we need to know that the os module is built-in in python, it is used for interacting with the operating system.

getcwd()

getcwd(): this method helps you to get the absolute path of the current working directory as a string.

import os

print(os.getcwd())
# C:\Users\AyaBouchiha\Desktop\posts

os.mkdir()

mkdir(): lets you create a new directory if it does not exists, else it raises an error (FileExistsError)

import os

os.mkdir('python') # done :)

os.mkdir('python') # error (FileExistsError)

os.rmdir()

rmdir(): helps you to remove an empty directory.

import os

# done
os.mkdir('python/newFolder')  

# done
os.rmdir('python/newFolder')  

# error (FileNotFoundError)
os.rmdir('something/does-not-exists') 

# error (NotADirectoryError)
os.rmdir('user.json')

os.remove()

remove(): lets you delete a file. If it does not exists, this method raises an error.

import os

# done
os.remove('posts/python/test.py')

# error(FileNotFoundError)
os.remove('posts/python/test.py')

os.path.isfile()

isfile(): returns True if the given path is a regular file, otherwise It returns False.

import os


my_file_path = 'posts/python/os_module.py'
# True
print(os.path.isfile(my_file_path))

file_does_not_exists_path = 'posts/python/os_module.json'
# False
print(os.path.isfile(file_does_not_exists_path))

directory_path = 'posts/python'
# False
print(os.path.isfile(directory_path))

os.listdir()

listdir(): returns a list that contains all files and directories names that exist in the specified path.

import os

print(os.listdir('posts/'))
# Output:
# [
#  '5_list_python_methods.md',
#  'js_resources.md',
#  'MapObject.md',
#  'os_module.md',
#  'os_module.py',
#  'python'
# ]

Summary

getcwd(): returns the absolute path of the current working directory as a string.
mkdir(): creates a new directory.
rmdir(): removes an empty directory.
remove(): deletes a file.
isfile(): returns True if the given path is a regular file.
listdir(): returns a list that contains all files and directories names that exist in the specified path.