Why is python assuming my path is the project root, which is two directory levels up?

Question

I'm doing some learning python tutorials on Lynda. The tutorial has the script creating the files in the same directory as the script, as one would expect.

For whatever reason, though, my installation is creating the file and looking to read the file (using the path object) in the project root, or two directories up.

The script I am running is C:\Users\user\Development\Ex_Files_Learning_Python\Exercise Files\Ch4

The script looks like this:

import os
from os import path
import datetime
from datetime import date, time, timedelta
import time


def main():
  # Print the name of the OS
  print(os.name)

  # Check for item existence and type
  print("Item exists: " + str(path.exists("textfile.txt")))
  print("Item is a file: " + str(path.isfile("textfile.txt")))
  print("Item is a directory: " + str(path.isdir("textfile.txt")))
  # Work with file paths
  print("Item path" + str(path.realpath("textfile.txt")))
  print("Item path and name: " + str(path.split(path.realpath("textfile.txt"))))

  # Get the modification time


  # Calculate how long ago the item was modified



if __name__ == "__main__":
  main()

Its output is

nt
Item exists: False
Item is a file: False
Item is a directory: False
Item pathC:\Users\user\Development\Ex_Files_Learning_Python\textfile.txt
Item path and name: ('C:\\Users\\user\\Development\\Ex_Files_Learning_Python', 'textfile.txt')

So as you can see, it assumes its path is the project root, two directories up. I had the same problem in my previous exercise, creating a file. When i used open() on a file object, it created the file two directories up in the root of the project.

Any pointers are appreciated.

Update: I've established that this is happening because I'm using the VSCode terminal. How do I instruct the VSCode terminal to run the program from the cwd of the file i'm editing and debugging, rather than the project root?

For the record, here's my launch.json for the debugger

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Python: Current File (Integrated Terminal)",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${file}",
            "console": "integratedTerminal"
        },
        {
            "name": "Python: Remote Attach",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "attach",
            "port": 5678,
            "host": "localhost",
            "pathMappings": [
                {
                    "localRoot": ".",
                    "remoteRoot": "."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": "Python: Module",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "module": "enter-your-module-name-here",
            "console": "integratedTerminal"
        },
        {
            "name": "Python: Django",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/manage.py",
            "console": "integratedTerminal",
            "args": [
                "runserver",
                "--noreload",
                "--nothreading"
            ],
            "django": true
        },
        {
            "name": "Python: Flask",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "module": "flask",
            "env": {
                "FLASK_APP": "app.py"
            },
            "args": [
                "run",
                "--no-debugger",
                "--no-reload"
            ],
            "jinja": true
        },
        {
            "name": "Python: Current File (External Terminal)",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${file}",
            "console": "externalTerminal"
        }
    ]
}

Answer 1

According to https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/settings-reference :

python.terminal.executeInFileDir
false
Indicates whether to run a file in the file's directory instead of the current folder.

So presumably just set python.terminal.executeInFileDir to true.

Answer 2

If you're running the script from the terminal, you're probably running:

python "Exercise Files\Ch4\my_script.py"

Or something similar.

Instead, change folders first and then run it on the terminal:

cd "Exercise Files\Ch4"
python my_script.py

Or, to avoid all this manual directory switching, explicitly change the working directory in your script.

Answer 3

This is my fault, as I did not clarify that I was trying to modify the debugger terminal in VSCode. @Adam Smith's answer is right for the majority of cases dealing with the standard terminal.

If, however, you're trying to run the file from the debugger, the answer is to set "cwd" to an empty string, ie "" in launch.json (current debugger configuration)

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/debugging#_cwd

Answer 4

What you need to use is the __file__ built-in variable that Python associates with the current Python file name.

see what does the __file__ variable mean/do?

This should work if you're on Python 3.

pathlib.Path is on Python 3 and serves to manipulate file paths.

  from pathlib import Path                            
  myfilepath = Path(Path(__file__).resolve()).parent / "textfile.txt"
                    ^            ^
                    find the currrent script location
                                             ^ get its parent directory
                                                        ^ add your file name

and this the script

import os
from os import path
import datetime
from datetime import date, time, timedelta
import time


def main():
  # Print the name of the OS
  print(os.name)

  from pathlib import Path
  myfilepath = Path(Path(__file__).resolve()).parent / "textfile.txt"

  # Check for item existence and type
  print("Item exists: " + str(path.exists(myfilepath)))
  print("Item is a file: " + str(path.isfile(myfilepath)))
  print("Item is a directory: " + str(path.isdir(myfilepath)))
  # Work with file paths
  print("Item path" + str(path.realpath(myfilepath)))
  print("Item path and name: " + str(path.split(path.realpath(myfilepath))))

  # Get the modification time


  # Calculate how long ago the item was modified

main()

output:

posix
Item exists: True
Item is a file: True
Item is a directory: False
Item path/Users/jluc/kds2/wk/explore/textfile.txt
Item path and name: ('/Users/jluc/kds2/wk/explore', 'textfile.txt')

If you're on Python 2, you get the same results by using this instead:

(os.path.join("foo", "bar") will return foo\bar on Windows or foo/bar on Linux/macOs.

#from pathlib import Path
myfilepath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "textfile.txt")
                          ^ get parent directory
                                                     ^ append your filename