"pathlib.Path" - Read and Write Operations

Python Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟"pathlib" - Object-Oriented Filesystem Paths

∟"pathlib.Path" - Read and Write Operations

This section describes methods from the 'pathlib.Path' class for file read and write operations.

"pathlib.Path" class also offers a number of methods to perform read and write operations on files:

iterdir() - Method returns a generator of Path objects representing files and sub-directories of this path.
mkdir() - Method creates a directory for this path.
open() - Method opens this path as a file and returns the file handle.
read_text() - Method reads the content of this path as text and returns it as a string.
read_bytes() - Method reads the content of this path as bytes and returns it as a binary string.
rename(path) - Method renames the file/directory of this path to the given path.
replace(path) - Method replaces the file//directory of this path to the given path. It provides the same functionality as the rename(path) method.
resolve() - Method converts this path to an absolute path.
rmdir() - Method removes the directory of this path.
touch() - Method touches the file of this path.
unlink() - Method removes the file/directory of this path.
write_bytes(data) - Method writes data in binary mode to the file of this path.
write_text(data) - Method writes data in character mode to the file of this path.

Here are examples on how to use above pathlib.Path methods.

>>> from pathlib import Path

# Loop through child items of a directory
>>> p = Path('docs')
>>> for child in p.iterdir(): child
...
PosixPath('docs/conf.py')
PosixPath('docs/_templates')
PosixPath('docs/make.bat')
PosixPath('docs/index.rst')
PosixPath('docs/_build')
PosixPath('docs/_static')
PosixPath('docs/Makefile')

# write text, rename and read text on a file.
>>> p = Path('foo')
>>> p.write_text('some text')
9
>>> target = Path('bar')
>>> p.rename(target)
PosixPath('bar')
>>> target.read_text()
'some text'

>>> target.unlink()