How to find if directory exists in Python

Question

In the os module in Python, is there a way to find if a directory exists, something like:

>>> os.direxists(os.path.join(os.getcwd()), 'new_folder')) # in pseudocode True/False 

Answer 1

You're looking for os.path.isdir, or os.path.exists if you don't care whether it's a file or a directory:

>>> import os >>> os.path.isdir('new_folder') True >>> os.path.exists(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'new_folder', 'file.txt')) False 

Alternatively, you can use pathlib:

 >>> from pathlib import Path  >>> Path('new_folder').is_dir()  True  >>> (Path.cwd() / 'new_folder' / 'file.txt').exists()  False 

Answer 2

Python 3.4 introduced the pathlib module into the standard library, which provides an object oriented approach to handle filesystem paths. The is_dir() and exists() methods of a Path object can be used to answer the question:

In [1]: from pathlib import Path  In [2]: p = Path('/usr')  In [3]: p.exists() Out[3]: True  In [4]: p.is_dir() Out[4]: True 

Paths (and strings) can be joined together with the / operator:

In [5]: q = p / 'bin' / 'vim'  In [6]: q Out[6]: PosixPath('/usr/bin/vim')   In [7]: q.exists() Out[7]: True  In [8]: q.is_dir() Out[8]: False 

Pathlib is also available on Python 2.7 via the pathlib2 module on PyPi.