File: //usr/share/doc/python3.10-doc/html/library/filesys.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" /><meta name="generator" content="Docutils 0.17.1: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/" />
<title>File and Directory Access — Python 3.10.12 documentation</title><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../_static/pygments.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../_static/pydoctheme.css?2022.1" />
<script data-url_root="../" id="documentation_options" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/jquery.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/underscore.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/doctools.js"></script>
<script src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script>
<link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml"
title="Search within Python 3.10.12 documentation"
href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/>
<link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" />
<link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" />
<link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" />
<link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" />
<link rel="next" title="pathlib — Object-oriented filesystem paths" href="pathlib.html" />
<link rel="prev" title="operator — Standard operators as functions" href="operator.html" />
<link rel="canonical" href="file:///usr/share/doc/python3.10/html/library/filesys.html" />
<style>
@media only screen {
table.full-width-table {
width: 100%;
}
}
</style>
<link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.svg" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/menu.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="mobile-nav">
<input type="checkbox" id="menuToggler" class="toggler__input" aria-controls="navigation"
aria-pressed="false" aria-expanded="false" role="button" aria-label="Menu" />
<label for="menuToggler" class="toggler__label">
<span></span>
</label>
<nav class="nav-content" role="navigation">
<a href="https://www.python.org/" class="nav-logo">
<img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="Logo"/>
</a>
<div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<form role="search" class="search" action="../search.html" method="get">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" class="search-icon">
<path fill-rule="nonzero"
d="M15.5 14h-.79l-.28-.27a6.5 6.5 0 001.48-5.34c-.47-2.78-2.79-5-5.59-5.34a6.505 6.505 0 00-7.27 7.27c.34 2.8 2.56 5.12 5.34 5.59a6.5 6.5 0 005.34-1.48l.27.28v.79l4.25 4.25c.41.41 1.08.41 1.49 0 .41-.41.41-1.08 0-1.49L15.5 14zm-6 0C7.01 14 5 11.99 5 9.5S7.01 5 9.5 5 14 7.01 14 9.5 11.99 14 9.5 14z" fill="#444"></path>
</svg>
<input type="text" name="q" aria-label="Quick search"/>
<input type="submit" value="Go"/>
</form>
</nav>
<div class="menu-wrapper">
<nav class="menu" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
<div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<h4>Previous topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="operator.html"
title="previous chapter"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">operator</span></code> — Standard operators as functions</a></p>
<h4>Next topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="pathlib.html"
title="next chapter"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pathlib</span></code> — Object-oriented filesystem paths</a></p>
<div role="note" aria-label="source link">
<h3>This Page</h3>
<ul class="this-page-menu">
<li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.10/Doc/library/filesys.rst"
rel="nofollow">Show Source
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation">
<h3>Navigation</h3>
<ul>
<li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
<a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
accesskey="I">index</a></li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index"
>modules</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="pathlib.html" title="pathlib — Object-oriented filesystem paths"
accesskey="N">next</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="operator.html" title="operator — Standard operators as functions"
accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li>
<li><img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="python logo" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li>
<li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li>
<li class="switchers">
<div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
</li>
<li>
</li>
<li id="cpython-language-and-version">
<a href="../index.html">3.10.12 Documentation</a> »
</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" accesskey="U">The Python Standard Library</a> »</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href="">File and Directory Access</a></li>
<li class="right">
<div class="inline-search" role="search">
<form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get">
<input placeholder="Quick search" aria-label="Quick search" type="text" name="q" />
<input type="submit" value="Go" />
<input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
<input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
</form>
</div>
|
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="document">
<div class="documentwrapper">
<div class="bodywrapper">
<div class="body" role="main">
<section id="file-and-directory-access">
<span id="filesys"></span><h1>File and Directory Access<a class="headerlink" href="#file-and-directory-access" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>The modules described in this chapter deal with disk files and directories. For
example, there are modules for reading the properties of files, manipulating
paths in a portable way, and creating temporary files. The full list of modules
in this chapter is:</p>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pathlib</span></code> — Object-oriented filesystem paths</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#basic-use">Basic use</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#pure-paths">Pure paths</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#general-properties">General properties</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#operators">Operators</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#accessing-individual-parts">Accessing individual parts</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#methods-and-properties">Methods and properties</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#concrete-paths">Concrete paths</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#methods">Methods</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="pathlib.html#correspondence-to-tools-in-the-os-module">Correspondence to tools in the <code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os</span></code> module</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="os.path.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os.path</span></code> — Common pathname manipulations</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="fileinput.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fileinput</span></code> — Iterate over lines from multiple input streams</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="stat.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">stat</span></code> — Interpreting <code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">stat()</span></code> results</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="filecmp.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">filecmp</span></code> — File and Directory Comparisons</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="filecmp.html#the-dircmp-class">The <code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dircmp</span></code> class</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="tempfile.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tempfile</span></code> — Generate temporary files and directories</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tempfile.html#examples">Examples</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tempfile.html#deprecated-functions-and-variables">Deprecated functions and variables</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="glob.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">glob</span></code> — Unix style pathname pattern expansion</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="fnmatch.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">fnmatch</span></code> — Unix filename pattern matching</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="linecache.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">linecache</span></code> — Random access to text lines</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">shutil</span></code> — High-level file operations</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#directory-and-files-operations">Directory and files operations</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#platform-dependent-efficient-copy-operations">Platform-dependent efficient copy operations</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#copytree-example">copytree example</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#rmtree-example">rmtree example</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#archiving-operations">Archiving operations</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#archiving-example">Archiving example</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#archiving-example-with-base-dir">Archiving example with <em>base_dir</em></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="shutil.html#querying-the-size-of-the-output-terminal">Querying the size of the output terminal</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="simple">
<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="os.html#module-os" title="os: Miscellaneous operating system interfaces."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">os</span></code></a></dt><dd><p>Operating system interfaces, including functions to work with files at a
lower level than Python <a class="reference internal" href="../glossary.html#term-file-object"><span class="xref std std-term">file objects</span></a>.</p>
</dd>
<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="io.html#module-io" title="io: Core tools for working with streams."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">io</span></code></a></dt><dd><p>Python’s built-in I/O library, including both abstract classes and
some concrete classes such as file I/O.</p>
</dd>
<dt>Built-in function <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#open" title="open"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">open()</span></code></a></dt><dd><p>The standard way to open files for reading and writing with Python.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</section>
<div class="clearer"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
<div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
<h4>Previous topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="operator.html"
title="previous chapter"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">operator</span></code> — Standard operators as functions</a></p>
<h4>Next topic</h4>
<p class="topless"><a href="pathlib.html"
title="next chapter"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pathlib</span></code> — Object-oriented filesystem paths</a></p>
<div role="note" aria-label="source link">
<h3>This Page</h3>
<ul class="this-page-menu">
<li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li>
<li>
<a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.10/Doc/library/filesys.rst"
rel="nofollow">Show Source
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clearer"></div>
</div>
<div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation">
<h3>Navigation</h3>
<ul>
<li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px">
<a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index"
>index</a></li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index"
>modules</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="pathlib.html" title="pathlib — Object-oriented filesystem paths"
>next</a> |</li>
<li class="right" >
<a href="operator.html" title="operator — Standard operators as functions"
>previous</a> |</li>
<li><img src="../_static/py.svg" alt="python logo" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li>
<li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li>
<li class="switchers">
<div class="language_switcher_placeholder"></div>
<div class="version_switcher_placeholder"></div>
</li>
<li>
</li>
<li id="cpython-language-and-version">
<a href="../index.html">3.10.12 Documentation</a> »
</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li>
<li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href="">File and Directory Access</a></li>
<li class="right">
<div class="inline-search" role="search">
<form class="inline-search" action="../search.html" method="get">
<input placeholder="Quick search" aria-label="Quick search" type="text" name="q" />
<input type="submit" value="Go" />
<input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
<input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
</form>
</div>
|
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="footer">
© <a href="../copyright.html">Copyright</a> 2001-2025, Python Software Foundation.
<br />
This page is licensed under the Python Software Foundation License Version 2.
<br />
Examples, recipes, and other code in the documentation are additionally licensed under the Zero Clause BSD License.
<br />
See <a href="/license.html">History and License</a> for more information.<br />
<br />
The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation.
<a href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/">Please donate.</a>
<br />
<br />
Last updated on August 15, 2025.
<a href="/bugs.html">Found a bug</a>?
<br />
Created using <a href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx</a> 4.3.2.
</div>
</body>
</html>