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1.2.7. Standard Library: 1.2.7.1. Module: Operating System Functionality

The document discusses Python's standard library modules for common tasks like file and directory manipulation (os, shutil), path manipulation (os.path), running external commands (os, sh), environment variables (os.environ, os.getenv), pattern matching files (glob), system information (sys), and object serialization (pickle). It provides examples of using each module to list directories, rename files, get paths, run commands, access environment variables, find files, and dump objects to files. The document is intended as notes for an introduction to Python's standard library.

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Manu Mannu
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81 views

1.2.7. Standard Library: 1.2.7.1. Module: Operating System Functionality

The document discusses Python's standard library modules for common tasks like file and directory manipulation (os, shutil), path manipulation (os.path), running external commands (os, sh), environment variables (os.environ, os.getenv), pattern matching files (glob), system information (sys), and object serialization (pickle). It provides examples of using each module to list directories, rename files, get paths, run commands, access environment variables, find files, and dump objects to files. The document is intended as notes for an introduction to Python's standard library.

Uploaded by

Manu Mannu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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11/16/2014

1.2.7. Standard Library Scipy lecture notes

1.2.7. Standard Library


Note: Reference document for this section:
The Python Standard Library documentation: http://docs.python.org/library/index.html
Python Essential Reference, David Beazley, Addison-Wesley Professional

1.2.7.1.

os

module: operating system functionality

A portable way of using operating system dependent functionality.

1.2.7.1.1. Directory and file manipulation


Current directory:
In [17]: os.getcwd()
Out[17]: '/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source'
List a directory:
In [31]: os.listdir(os.curdir)
Out[31]:
['.index.rst.swo',
'.python_language.rst.swp',
'.view_array.py.swp',
'_static',
'_templates',
'basic_types.rst',
'conf.py',
'control_flow.rst',
'debugging.rst',
...
Make a directory:
In [32]: os.mkdir('junkdir')
In [33]: 'junkdir' in os.listdir(os.curdir)
Out[33]: True
Rename the directory:
In [36]: os.rename('junkdir', 'foodir')
In [37]: 'junkdir' in os.listdir(os.curdir)
Out[37]: False
In [38]: 'foodir' in os.listdir(os.curdir)
Out[38]: True
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1.2.7. Standard Library Scipy lecture notes

In [41]: os.rmdir('foodir')
In [42]: 'foodir' in os.listdir(os.curdir)
Out[42]: False
Delete a file:
In [44]: fp = open('junk.txt', 'w')
In [45]: fp.close()
In [46]: 'junk.txt' in os.listdir(os.curdir)
Out[46]: True
In [47]: os.remove('junk.txt')
In [48]: 'junk.txt' in os.listdir(os.curdir)
Out[48]: False

1.2.7.1.2.
os.path

os.path :

path manipulations

provides common operations on pathnames.

In [70]: fp = open('junk.txt', 'w')


In [71]: fp.close()
In [72]: a = os.path.abspath('junk.txt')
In [73]: a
Out[73]: '/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source/junk.txt'
In [74]: os.path.split(a)
Out[74]: ('/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source',
'junk.txt')
In [78]: os.path.dirname(a)
Out[78]: '/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source'
In [79]: os.path.basename(a)
Out[79]: 'junk.txt'
In [80]: os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(a))
Out[80]: ('junk', '.txt')
In [84]: os.path.exists('junk.txt')
Out[84]: True
In [86]: os.path.isfile('junk.txt')
Out[86]: True
In [87]: os.path.isdir('junk.txt')
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1.2.7. Standard Library Scipy lecture notes

Out[87]: False
In [88]: os.path.expanduser('~/local')
Out[88]: '/Users/cburns/local'
In [92]: os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), 'local', 'bin')
Out[92]: '/Users/cburns/local/bin'

1.2.7.1.3. Running an external command


In [8]: os.system('ls')
basic_types.rst
demo.py
standard_library.rst
control_flow.rst exceptions.rst
demo2.py
first_steps.rst

functions.rst

python_language.rst

io.rst
oop.rst

python-logo.png
reusing_code.rst

Note: Alternative to os.system


A noteworthy alternative to os.system is the sh module. Which provides much more convenient ways to
obtain the output, error stream and exit code of the external command.
In [20]: import sh
In [20]: com = sh.ls()
In [21]: print com
basic_types.rst
exceptions.rst
standard_library.rst
control_flow.rst first_steps.rst
demo2.py
functions.rst
demo.py
io.rst

oop.rst
python_language.rst
python-logo.png
reusing_code.rst

In [22]: print com.exit_code


0
In [23]: type(com)
Out[23]: sh.RunningCommand

1.2.7.1.4. Walking a directory


os.path.walk

generates a list of filenames in a directory tree.

In [10]: for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(os.curdir):


....:
for fp in filenames:
....:
print os.path.abspath(fp)
....:
....:
/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source/.index.rst.swo
/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source/.view_array.py.swp
/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source/basic_types.rst
/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source/conf.py
/Users/cburns/src/scipy2009/scipy_2009_tutorial/source/control_flow.rst
http://scipy-lectures.github.io/intro/language/standard_library.html

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...

1.2.7.1.5. Environment variables:


In [9]: import os
In [11]: os.environ.keys()
Out[11]:
['_',
'FSLDIR',
'TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION',
'FSLREMOTECALL',
'USER',
'HOME',
'PATH',
'PS1',
'SHELL',
'EDITOR',
'WORKON_HOME',
'PYTHONPATH',
...
In [12]: os.environ['PYTHONPATH']
Out[12]: '.:/Users/cburns/src/utils:/Users/cburns/src/nitools:
/Users/cburns/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/:
/usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/:
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5'
In [16]: os.getenv('PYTHONPATH')
Out[16]: '.:/Users/cburns/src/utils:/Users/cburns/src/nitools:
/Users/cburns/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/:
/usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/:
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5'

1.2.7.2.
The

shutil

shutil :

high-level file operations

provides useful file operations:


shutil.rmtree :

Recursively delete a directory tree.


shutil.move : Recursively move a file or directory to another location.
shutil.copy : Copy files or directories.

1.2.7.3.
The

glob

glob :

Pattern matching on files

module provides convenient file pattern matching.

Find all files ending in

.txt :

In [18]: import glob


http://scipy-lectures.github.io/intro/language/standard_library.html

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In [19]: glob.glob('*.txt')
Out[19]: ['holy_grail.txt', 'junk.txt', 'newfile.txt']

1.2.7.4.

sys

module: system-specific information

System-specific information related to the Python interpreter.


Which version of python are you running and where is it installed:
In [117]: sys.platform
Out[117]: 'darwin'
In [118]: sys.version
Out[118]: '2.5.2 (r252:60911, Feb 22 2008, 07:57:53) \n
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5363)]'
In [119]: sys.prefix
Out[119]: '/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5'
List of command line arguments passed to a Python script:
In [100]: sys.argv
Out[100]: ['/Users/cburns/local/bin/ipython']
sys.path

is a list of strings that specifies the search path for modules. Initialized from PYTHONPATH:

In [121]: sys.path
Out[121]:
['',
'/Users/cburns/local/bin',
'/Users/cburns/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/grin-1.1-py2.5.egg',
'/Users/cburns/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/argparse-0.8.0-py2.5.egg',
'/Users/cburns/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/urwid-0.9.7.1-py2.5.egg',
'/Users/cburns/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/yolk-0.4.1-py2.5.egg',
'/Users/cburns/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/virtualenv-1.2-py2.5.egg',
...

1.2.7.5.

pickle :

easy persistence

Useful to store arbitrary objects to a file. Not safe or fast!


In [1]: import pickle
In [2]: l = [1, None, 'Stan']
In [3]: pickle.dump(l, file('test.pkl', 'w'))
In [4]: pickle.load(file('test.pkl'))
Out[4]: [1, None, 'Stan']
http://scipy-lectures.github.io/intro/language/standard_library.html

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1.2.7. Standard Library Scipy lecture notes

Exercise
Write a program to search your

PYTHONPATH

for the module

site.py .

The PYTHONPATH Search Solution

http://scipy-lectures.github.io/intro/language/standard_library.html

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