Running a script in another directory

Question

Currently, I have created a code that makes graphs from data in .csv files. However, I can only run the code if that code is present in the folder with the csv files. How can I make the the script file so that it doesn't have to be in the same directory as the .csv files. Also, I would like that same script to read every csv file in that other directory.

This is what I was using before:

directory = ""
listing = os.listdir(directory)
for files in listing:
   if files.endswith('.csv'):  
        df=pd.read_csv(files)

Google for "python change directory" yields [this StackOverflow question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/431684/how-do-i-cd-in-python). — larsks, Jul 24 '13 at 16:42

dkar · Answer 1 · 2013-07-24T16:55:56.343

2

Just replace directory = "" with directory="../your-path-to-csv-files". Here is a complete example:

directory = "../your-path-to-csv-files"
listing = os.listdir(directory)
for files in listing:
   if files.endswith('.csv'):  
        full_name = os.path.join(directory,files)
        df=pd.read_csv(full_name)

edited Jul 24 '13 at 16:55

answered Jul 24 '13 at 16:42

dkar

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thats what I have right now, i just didnt specify the path in the description. – user2614937 Jul 24 '13 at 16:55
See edit, you need to get the full name by using `os.path.join` – dkar Jul 24 '13 at 16:56

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 24 '13 at 16:43

I've built for such purposes a little function, which calculates paths of data relative to the execution-place of the python-file:

import os
def getPathToData():
    path = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(__file__))
    path = os.path.abspath(path[0])
    path = path + "/data/"
    return path

Maybe this snippet can help you.

Running a script in another directory

2 Answers2