Check if a File Exists in Python Last Updated : 27 Nov, 2024 Comments Improve Suggest changes Like Article Like Report When working with files in Python, we often need to check if a file exists before performing any operations like reading or writing. by using some simple methods we can check if a file exists in Python without tackling any error. Using pathlib.Path.exists (Recommended Method)Starting with Python 3.4, pathlib module offers a more modern and object-oriented approach to handling file paths. We can use the Path object to check if a file exists. Python from pathlib import Path # File path a = Path("myfile.txt") # Check if the file exists if a.exists(): print("File exists") else: print("File does not exist") OutputFile does not exist There are Other methods that we can use to check if a file exists in python are:Table of ContentUsing os.path.isfile() [Specific to FilesUsing os.path.exists() [Generic for files/dirUsing try-except blockUsing os.access (Permission-Specific Check)Using os.path.isfile()If we want to be extra sure that the path is specifically a file (and not a directory) we can use os.path.isfile(). This method works similarly to os.path.exists() but it only returns True if the path is indeed a file and not a directory. Python import os # File path a = "myfile.txt" # Check if the file exists and is a file if os.path.isfile(a): print("File exists and is a file") else: print("File does not exist or is not a file") OutputFile does not exist or is not a file Using os.path.exists()The os. path.exists() function is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to check if a file exists in Python. It returns True if the file exists and False if it doesn't. Python import os # File path a = "myfile.txt" # Check if the file exists if os.path.exists(a): print("File exists") else: print("File does not exist") OutputFile does not exist Note: This method does not differentiate between files and directory. Using try-except blockIf we want to directly attempt to open the file and handle the case where the file does not exist using a try-except block. This method is useful when we want to proceed with reading or writing to the file and catch any errors if it’s not found. Python try: # File path a = "myfile.txt" # Try to open the file with open(a, 'r') as file: print("File exists and is ready to read") except FileNotFoundError: print("File does not exist") OutputFile does not exist Using os.access (Permission-Specific Check)This method is suitable when you want to check if file exists, along with checking file-permissions (read, write, execute). Python import os file_path = "myfile.txt" if os.access(file_path, os.F_OK): print("File exists") else: print("File does not exist") Comment More infoAdvertise with us Next Article Check if a File Exists in Python P pragya22r4 Follow Improve Article Tags : Python Python Programs python-file-handling Practice Tags : python Similar Reads Python Tutorial | Learn Python Programming Language Python Tutorial â Python is one of the most popular programming languages. Itâs simple to use, packed with features and supported by a wide range of libraries and frameworks. 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