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When performing the following code, is there an order in which Python loops through files in the provided directory? Is it alphabetical? How do I go about establishing an order these files are loops through, either by date created/modified or alphabetically).
import os
for file in os.listdir(path)
df = pd.read_csv(path+file)
// do stuff
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By default, the list of files returned by os. listdir() is in arbitrary order.
In Python, the os module provides a function listdir(dir_path), which returns a list of file and sub-directory names in the given directory path. Then using the filter() function create list of files only. Then sort this list of file names based on the name using the sorted() function.
listdir() method in python is used to get the list of all files and directories in the specified directory. If we don't specify any directory, then list of files and directories in the current working directory will be returned.
scandir() is a directory iteration function like os. listdir(), except that instead of returning a list of bare filenames, it yields DirEntry objects that include file type and stat information along with the name. Using scandir() increases the speed of os.
You asked several questions:
No, Python does not impose any predictable order. The docs say 'The list is in arbitrary order'. If order matters, you must impose it. Practically speaking, the files are returned in the same order used by the underlying operating system, but one mustn't rely on that.
Probably not. But even if it were you mustn't rely upon that. (See above).
for file in sorted(os.listdir(path)):
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