Making a directory for a file

Question

I was making a exercise generator algorithm for my friend, but I stumbled across a problem. It is a python program, and I wanted to generate a folder in a directory that was above the program's location (like, the python file is in 'C:\Documents\foo' and the folder should be created in 'C:\Documents') so that it could then store the file the program created. Is there a way to do this or should I try something else?

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

2

Use the path argument of the os.mkdir() function.

Getting the current script directory is not a built-in feature, but there are multiple hacks suggested here.

Once you get the current script directory, you can build a path based off of that.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Community

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answered Apr 14 '16 at 18:11

Malcolm

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The os module worked! Thank you! (Also, to find the current directory, you can use os.getcwd) – D4rkM4sterBR Apr 14 '16 at 18:19
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@D4rkM4sterBR, I edited the answer to avoid confusing the script directory with the process current directory. You do not want `os.getcwd`. See the linked question. – Eryk Sun Apr 14 '16 at 18:21
I found out you can split the os.getcwd string into a list, reverse it, delete the last item (which would be the current folder), reverse it again, join it, and you will get the upper folder. It also works. – D4rkM4sterBR Apr 14 '16 at 18:33
Well I'm not really for using `os.getcwd`. If you're doing that regardless, you can use `list.pop(0)` (where list is your list obtained by the original split) to remove the first item of the list. – Malcolm Apr 14 '16 at 18:41
@D4rkM4sterBR, you said "generate a folder in a directory that was above the program's location". `os.getcwd` is completely unrelated to this requirement. The current working directory can be *anything* depending on the working directory of the parent process (e.g. cmd.exe or explorer.exe) or a directory passed explicitly to [`CreateProcess`](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682425) as `lpCurrentDirectory`. – Eryk Sun Apr 14 '16 at 18:59

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

0

Not super familiar with Python in a Windows environment, but this should be easily do-able. Here is a similar question that might be worth looking at: How to check if a directory exists and create it if necessary?

Looks like the pathlib module might do what you are looking for.

from pathlib import Path
path = Path("/my/directory/filename.txt")
try:
    if not path.parent.exists():
        path.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
except OSError:
    # handle error; you can also catch specific errors like
    # FileExistsError and so on.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:59

Community

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answered Apr 14 '16 at 18:06

PistolPete

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I don't quite get it, but I'm going to look into it. I didn't even know this library existed! Thanks! – D4rkM4sterBR Apr 14 '16 at 18:11

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 14 '16 at 18:40

0

Appears to work on Win 7 with Python 2.7.8 as described:

import os.path

createDir = '\\'.join((os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), os.pardir)), 'Foo'))

if not os.path.exists(createDir):
    os.makedirs(createDir)

answered Apr 14 '16 at 18:40

chickity china chinese chicken

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Making a directory for a file

3 Answers3