Editing Paths in Python

Question

I'm trying to create a program that duplicates itself to another location and creates a batch file on the desktop. I can make it duplicate itself and I can create the batch file but I need some help with the paths.

I can find the path that my program is currently in. Both the direct path and the path to the directory. My problem lies in the fact that I want to place the file in (let's just say for simplicity) 'C:\Users\Me\Documents'. How would I edit the path? I want to be able to place this on a generic windows computer so I can't hard code the path in because each user will be different. This goes the same for placing the batch file and setting it for the right directory to run the python script in documents.

I have tried both

import os print os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

and

import os print os.path.abspath(__file__)

but am clueless as to how to edit the path. When I try googling for it and searching this wonderful site, all I get is stuff about configuring the Python path on windows and other stuff that I can't quite understand at my current level of Python.

Now I turn to you, can you help? Any input would be appreciated, if you could explain how it worked that would be even better!

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Due to some questions about my code (and a specific one to post it) Here it is

from sys import argv            # Imports module
import os

script, create = argv           # Gets script name and desired amount of copies

data = open(script)             # Creates a variable to store the script

indata = copy.read()            # Creates the data to be copied from the script


batData = """
echo off
%s
""" %                           # This is not finished, creating that batch file

createT = int(create) + 1
for i in range(1, createT):     # Runs a set amount of times
    copyName = "%s.py" % str(i) # Creates the name for the file
    copy = open(copyName, 'w+') # Opens/creates the file for editing
    copy.write(indata)          # Writies the indata to the file opened
    copy.close                  # Closes that file

    batName = "%s.bat" % str(i)
    bat = open(batName, 'w+')

It is not finished but hopefully you get the gist. The argv at the beginning is so I can change the amount of copies made, that will be deleted later as I evolve the code but for now I like it there.

I have currently tried the following to find the path:

import os
print os.path.abspath(__file__)
print os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
print os.path.dirname(__file__)

test = os.path.dirname(__file__)

a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i = test.split("\\")

print c

What I want to happen (or think I want to happen) is for the path to be found, then split into pieces (either each directory or break off everything after the username). Then I want to append the document folder tag to the end. For the batch instead of the document tag it will be for the desktop.

among a few others that people have posted. I hope this helps!

Answer 1

Your code snippet returns a string. Just take that string and edit to make the path you want. I'm on a mac so I can't test with an actual windows directory but I'll try to make it look Windows-ish. For instance, lets say this code:

directory_path = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
print(directory_path)

gives you:

C:\Users\username\AppData

You can use the split function to break the path into pieces (docs).

stuff = path_string.split('\')
print(stuff)

Code output:

['C:', 'Users', 'username', 'AppData']

You can use the pieces create the path you want and then use it to write the file. So, if you want the username folder just loop until you find it. Some example code is below (just an example to get you started - read up on Python if you need help understanding the code).

username = ""
for i in range(0, len(stuff)):
    if stuff[i] == "Users":
        username = stuff[i + 1]

Not sure if that answers your question but hope it helps.

Answer 2

Am I correct that you are trying to figure out how to make a file path to some location on the user's directory without knowing who the user is going to be that is executing the program?

You may be able to take advantage of environment variables for this. For instance, I can get a file path to the C://Users/username/ directory of whoever is executing the code with:

my_path = os.path.join("C:\\", "Users", os.getenv("USERNAME"))

Where os.getenv("USERNAME") returns the value of the USERNAME environment variable (should be the name of the user that is currently logged on).

You can list all of the available environment variables and their values in Python with:

for key, val in os.environ.items():
  print("{} \t {}\n".format(key, val))  # or however you want to prettify it

You may get lucky and find an environment variable that gives you most of the path to begin with.

In general, os.path.join(), os.path.relpath(), and os.path.abspath() combined with some environment variables might be able to help you. Check out the os documentation and os.path documentation.

Answer 3

Many times when modifying a path, I am looking to add/remove folders. Here is my simple method for adding a path, e.g. if I want to move the path of an object into a folder added_path='/train/.

Since my paths are usually uniform, I check the last split characters in the first file location. Usually, my experience is that windows have \\ at the end while Mac and Linux have `/', which makes this work across operating systems. (note: if the paths are not uniform, you obviously place the if-else in the for-loop.)

if '\\' in data[0].img_file:
    split_char = '\\'
else:
    split_char = '/'

for img in data:
    img_path = img.img_file.split(split_char)
    label_path = img.label_file.split(split_char)
    img.img_file = '/'.join(img_path[:-1]) + added_path  + img_path[-1]
    img.label_file = '/'.join(label_path[:-1]) + added_path  + label_path[-1]

So, this for loop uses all the folders up until the file name, where we insert the extra folder, and then, at last, add the file name.

Example input path: 'data/combined/18.png'

Example output path: 'data/combined/train/18.png'