Use "os" Module to Manage Files

Python Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Use "os" Module to Manage Files

This section describes methods from the 'os' module for managing files.

"os" module also offers a number of methods to perform read and write operations on files:

os.close(fd) - Method closes the given file descriptor.
os.fsync(fd) - Method forces any cached content to the storage associated to the given file descriptor.
os.ftruncate(fd, length) - Method truncates the content to "length" bytes associated to the given file descriptor.
os.lseek(fd, pos, how) - Method moves the current position to the given position in the content associated to the given file descriptor.
os.mkdir(path) - Method creates a directory for the given path.
os.open(path, flags) - Method opens a file of the given path and returns a file descriptor.
os.read(fd, n) - Method reads "n" bytes from the given file descriptor.
os.remove(path) - Method removes the file of the given path.
os.rename(old, new) - Method renames the name of a file to a new name.
os.rmdir(path) - Method removes an empty directory of the given path.
os.scandir(path) - Method returns an iterator for files and sub-directories of the given path.
os.stat(path) - Method returns status information of the given path.
os.write(fd, data) - Method writes "data" to the given file descriptor and returns the number of bytes written.

Here are examples on how to use above "os" methods.

>>> import os

# Loop through child items of a directory
>>> for child in os.scandir('docs'): child
...
<DirEntry 'conf.py'>
<DirEntry '_templates'>
<DirEntry 'make.bat'>
<DirEntry 'index.rst'>
<DirEntry '_build'>
<DirEntry '_static'>
<DirEntry 'Makefile'>

# write data, rename and read data on a file.
>>> fd = os.open('foo', os.O_CREAT|os.O_WRONLY)
>>> os.write(fd, b'some text')
9
>>> os.close(fd)

>>> os.rename('foo', 'bar')

>>> fd = os.open('bar', os.O_RDONLY)
>>> os.read(fd, 80)
b'some text'
>>> os.close(fd)