Safe way to read directory in Python

Question

try:
    directoryListing = os.listdir(inputDirectory)
    #other code goes here, it iterates through the list of files in the directory

except WindowsError as winErr:
    print("Directory error: " + str((winErr)))

This works fine, and I have tested that it doesnt choke and die when the directory doesn't exist, but I was reading in a Python book that I should be using "with" when opening files. Is there a preferred way to do what I am doing?

Answer 1

You are perfectly fine. The os.listdir function does not open files, so ultimately you are alright. You would use the with statement when reading a text file or similar.

an example of a with statement:

with open('yourtextfile.txt') as file: #this is like file=open('yourtextfile.txt')
    lines=file.readlines()                   #read all the lines in the file
                                       #when the code executed in the with statement is done, the file is automatically closed, which is why most people use this (no need for .close()).