How do i use Linux terminal commands like CD and LS?

Question

How do i add terminal commands to my Python script? I have a huge folder of images/videos/folders with more images/videos, and i want to organize them in a HTML file (FirstPage.html).

The script first lists all the files in the directory:

def listFiles():
  command = "ls"
  output = Popen(command, stdout=PIPE) #This is the only way i found to run LS in terminal and get the output
  x = str(output.stdout.read())
  x = x[2:-3]
  x += (" ")
  x = re.sub(r"\\n", " ", x)
  y = ""
  finalLIST = list()
  for o in x:
    if o == " ":
      finalLIST.append(str(y))
      y = ""
    else:
      y += o
  return finalLIST #returns a list with all files in the current directory

Then checks if the file is a image or a video, and if its a video, it adds to the HTML file:

<video controls>
  <source src="videoName.mp4" type="video/WebM/mp4">
  <source src="videoName.ogg" type="video/ogg">
  Video not suported!
</video>

and if its a image it adds:

<img src="ImageName.jpg" alt="image"/>

The code is:

def organize():
    DIRECTORIES = listFiles()
    IMAGE = [".png", ".jpg"]
    VIDEO = [".webm", ".mp4"]
    for x in DIRECTORIES:
       if not re.search(".", x):
          #This means that it is a directory
          #I want to CD into this directory and run listFiles() and then organize() it. How i do it?
     else:
         for y in IMAGE:
             ADDimg = "\n<img src=\"" + x + "\" alt=\"imagem\"/>\n"
             if re.search(y, x):
                 with open(FirstPage.html) as f:
                     for line in f:
                         if line = "<!--IMAGES-->":
                             f.write(ADDimg)
                         break
                     f.write(ADDimg)
         for y in VIDEO:
             ADDvideo = """\n<video controls>
                   <source src=\"""" + x
             """\" type="video/WebM/mp4">
                   <source src="video.ogg" type="video/ogg/WebM">
                   Video not suported!
                </video>\n
                """
             if re.search(y, x):
                with open(FirstPage.html) as f:
                for line in f:
                     if line = "<!--VIDEOS-->":
                     f.write(ADDvideo)
                     break

this is FirstPag.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>The first page</title>
</head>
<body>
  <!--IMAGES-->


  <!--VIDEOS-->
</body>
</html>

I want this script to list the files in the directory, add all images/ videos that are there to the HTML file, then cd into the folders there, and do the same thing, recursively. Any sugestions?

Thanks!

Use the [`os`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/os.html) module. — MattDMo, Jun 18 '16 at 18:43
Don't open another process just to call terminal commands, use the functions in Python instead. Duplicate of [How to list all files of a directory in Python](http://stackoverflow.com/q/3207219) and [How do I "cd" in Python?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/431684) respectively. — AliciaBytes, Jun 18 '16 at 18:45
@0U0p0-0t0o0-0d0a0t0e0 I saw that, and you don't need to. Read the link I gave. — MattDMo, Jun 18 '16 at 18:47

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 18 '16 at 18:47

3

Don't execute cd/ls commands for something that exist inside the language library: os.listdir().

You can use it like this:

from os import listdir
from os.path import isfile, join
files = [f for f in listdir(mypath) if isfile(join(mypath, f))]

Similarly you can use isdir to check for directories.

You can combine the above commands to make a recursive directory traversal.

answered Jun 18 '16 at 18:47

Krzysztof Krasoń

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If you feel this answer helped solved your issue, please mark it as 'accepted' by clicking the green check mark. This will help the community to keep the focus on unanswered questions. – Lahiru Jayaratne Jun 19 '16 at 07:54

How do i use Linux terminal commands like CD and LS?

1 Answers1