Non-recursive os.walk()

Question

I'm looking for a way to do a non-recursive os.walk() walk, just like os.listdir() works. But I need to return in the same way the os.walk() returns. Any idea?

Thank you in advance.

Alecz · Answer 1 · 2019-06-19T16:55:16.960

58

Add a break after the filenames for loop:

for root, dirs, filenames in os.walk(workdir):
    for fileName in filenames:
        print (fileName)
    break   #prevent descending into subfolders

This works because (by default) os.walk first lists the files in the requested folder and then goes into subfolders.

edited Jun 19 '19 at 16:55

answered Oct 31 '16 at 19:46

Alecz

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I feel this ought to be the accepted answer. So very simple and accurate. – Chockomonkey Jun 17 '19 at 21:59

score 44 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 07 '10 at 12:00

44

next(os.walk(...))

answered Nov 07 '10 at 12:00

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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More simple than I could think... Thank you! – Paulo Freitas Nov 07 '10 at 12:14
19

what does next do? – tremendows Sep 07 '18 at 17:34
3

Then you have to have two forms of the loop if you want to make the recursion optional :( – CpILL Nov 12 '18 at 13:02

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 15 '22 at 16:17

6

My a bit more parametrised solution would be this:

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):  
    if not recursive:  
        while len(dirs) > 0:  
            dirs.pop()  

    //some fancy code here using generated list

Edit: fixes, if/while issue. Thanks, @Dirk van Oosterbosch :}

edited Sep 15 '22 at 16:17

gerardw

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answered Jan 30 '13 at 15:51

Kamiccolo

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This only works if there is **one** subdirectory. For multiple subdirectories use `while len(dirs) > 0` instead of `if`. – Dirk van Oosterbosch Apr 23 '13 at 19:35
@DirkvanOosterbosch: or even simpler: just `if not recursive: break` Unrelated: you could use `del dirs[:]` instead of `while dirs: dirs.pop()`. – jfs Jul 05 '16 at 18:02

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 15 '13 at 17:07

1

Well what Kamiccolo meant was more in line with this:

for str_dirname, lst_subdirs, lst_files in os.walk(str_path):
    if not bol_recursive:
          while len(lst_subdirs) > 0:
              lst_subdirs.pop()

answered Nov 15 '13 at 17:07

Sanders

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 07 '21 at 12:32

1

Empty the directories list

for r, dirs, f in os.walk('/tmp/d'):
    del dirs[:]
    print(f)

answered Apr 07 '21 at 12:32

gerardw

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 03 '21 at 16:25

Flexible Function for counting files:

You can set recursive searching and what types you want to look for. The default argument: file_types=("", ) looks for any file. The argument file_types=(".csv",".txt") would search for csv and txt files.

from os import walk as os_walk

def count_files(path, recurse=True, file_types = ("",)):
    file_count = 0
    iterator = os_walk(path) if recurse else ((next(os_walk(path))), )
    for _, _, file_names in iterator:
        for file_name in file_names:
            file_count += 1 if file_name.endswith(file_types) else 0
    return file_count

Non-recursive os.walk()

6 Answers6

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