This module represents generic operating system functionality. This module is especially important if you want to make your programs platform-independent i.e. it allows the program to be written such that it will run on Linux as well as Windows without any problems and without requiring changes. An example of this is using the
os.sep
variable instead of the operation system-specific path separator.
Some of the more useful parts of the
os
module are listed below Most of them are self-explanatory.- The
os.name
string specifies which platform you are using, such as'nt'
for Windows and'posix'
for Linux/Unix users. - The
os.getcwd()
function gets the current working directory i.e. the path of the directory from which the curent Python script is working. - The
os.getenv()
andos.putenv()
functions are used to get and set environment variables respectively. - The
os.listdir()
function returns the name of all files and directories in the specified directory. - The
os.remove()
function is used to delete a file. - The
os.system()
function is used to run a shell command. - The
os.linesep
string gives the line terminator used in the current platform. For example, Windows uses'\r\n'
, Linux uses'\n'
and Mac uses'\r'
. - The
os.path.split()
function returns the directory name and file name of the path.
>>> os.path.split('/home/swaroop/byte/code/poem.txt') ('/home/swaroop/byte/code', 'poem.txt')
- The
os.path.isfile()
and theos.path.isdir()
functions check if the given path refers to a file or directory respectively. Similarly, theos.path.exists()
function is used to check if a given path actually exists.
You can explore the Python Standard Documentation for more details on these functions and variables. You can use
help(sys)
, etc. as well.
Comments
Post a Comment