How to use Glob() Function to Find Files Recursively in Python

Glob is a powerful pattern-matching technique widely used in Unix and Linux environments for matching file and directory names based on wildcard patterns. Python’s built-in glob module provides similar functionality, enabling you to easily find files and directories matching specific patterns. The glob module uses Unix shell-style wildcards such as:

• * matches zero or more characters
• ? matches exactly one character
• [abc] or [a-z] matches any one character from the set or range

Because glob follows these patterns, it offers a simple yet powerful way to search files by name patterns without manually parsing directories.

Why Use glob?

• Built-in module: No need to install external libraries.
• Efficient: According to benchmarks, glob is generally faster than manual directory scanning.
• Simple API: Easy to use for common and complex file searches.
• Wildcard support: Search with flexible patterns, not just exact names.

Recursive File Search with glob

From Python 3.5 onwards, the glob module supports recursive searching using the ** pattern combined with the recursive=True argument. It's Key Points include:

• ** means “this directory and all subdirectories, recursively.”
• You must set recursive=True for ** to be interpreted as recursive.
• Both glob.glob() (returns a list) and glob.iglob() (returns an iterator) support recursion.

Syntax

glob.glob(pathname, *, recursive=False)

glob.iglob(pathname, *, recursive=False)

• pathname: The pattern string, which can include wildcards and directory paths.
• recursive: Boolean flag to enable recursive matching with **.

Example:

# Python program to demonstrate
# glob using different wildcards


import glob


print('Named explicitly:')
for name in glob.glob('/home/geeks/Desktop/gfg/data.txt'):
    print(name)

# Using '*' pattern 
print('\nNamed with wildcard *:')
for name in glob.glob('/home/geeks/Desktop/gfg/*'):
    print(name)

# Using '?' pattern
print('\nNamed with wildcard ?:')
for name in glob.glob('/home/geeks/Desktop/gfg/data?.txt'):
    print(name)

# Using [0-9] pattern
print('\nNamed with wildcard ranges:')
for name in glob.glob('/home/geeks/Desktop/gfg/*[0-9].*'):
    print(name)

Output :

Using Glob() function to find files recursively

We can use the function

glob.glob()

or

glob.iglob()

directly from glob module to retrieve paths recursively from inside the directories/files and subdirectories/subfiles.

Syntax:

glob.glob(pathname, *, recursive=False)

glob.iglob(pathname, *, recursive=False)

Note:

When recursive is set

True

"

**

" followed by path separator

('./**/')

will match any files or directories.

Example:

# Python program to find files
# recursively using Python


import glob


# Returns a list of names in list files.
print("Using glob.glob()")
files = glob.glob('/home/geeks/Desktop/gfg/**/*.txt', 
                   recursive = True)
for file in files:
    print(file)


# It returns an iterator which will 
# be printed simultaneously.
print("\nUsing glob.iglob()")
for filename in glob.iglob('/home/geeks/Desktop/gfg/**/*.txt',
                           recursive = True):
    print(filename)

Output :

For older versions of python:

The most simple method is to use

as it is specifically designed and optimized to allow recursive browsing of a directory tree. Or we can also use

to get all the files in directory and subdirectories and then filter out. Let us see it through an example-

Example:

# Python program to find files
# recursively using Python


import os
 
# Using os.walk()
for dirpath, dirs, files in os.walk('src'): 
  for filename in files:
    fname = os.path.join(dirpath,filename)
    if fname.endswith('.c'):
      print(fname)
 
"""
Or
We can also use fnmatch.filter()
to filter out results.
"""
for dirpath, dirs, files in os.walk('src'): 
  for filename in fnmatch.filter(files, '*.c'):
    print(os.path.join(dirpath, filename))
 
# Using os.listdir()
path = "src"
dir_list = os.listdir(path)
for filename in fnmatch.filter(dir_list,'*.c'):
  print(os.path.join(dirpath, filename))

Output :

 
./src/add.c
./src/subtract.c
./src/sub/mul.c
./src/sub/div.c

./src/add.c
./src/subtract.c
./src/sub/mul.c
./src/sub/div.c

./src/add.c
./src/subtract.c
./src/sub/mul.c
./src/sub/div.c