Python: glob only returns one result on path pattern

Question

Pythoncode:

for name in glob.glob(first_argument):
    print(name)

Bash:

>$ ls
> a.txt b.txt c.txt program.py
>$ ./program.py *.txt
> a.txt

Somehow glob recognises the pattern, but will only find one match. However, If i write:

>$ ./program.py "*.txt"
> a.txt
> b.txt
> c.txt

I dont get it. Try to find answers in documentation, but couldnt manage. Anyone knows why? Thanks

In the first case, the shell expands the wildcard and passes all 4 files to your code. In other words, length of `sys.argv` is 4. When you use `first_argument`, you are effectively `glob`ing `a.txt` and hence, the result. However, shell expansion does not occur in the second case and `*.txt` is passed as-is, which is then handled by `glob`. — Anoop R Desai, Sep 05 '19 at 13:17

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 05 '19 at 13:51

2

when you run ./program.py *.txt in bash, it automatically expands *.txt to a.txt b.txt c.txt program.py

You then pass them all to your program and run the glob only on the first param a.txt

When you add the " around it you actually pass *.txt as the argument to glob

edited Sep 05 '19 at 13:51

answered Sep 05 '19 at 13:12

Elad Almos

Thank you. Any idea how to prevent bash from interfering with the arguments given. I want the program to get exaclty what user wrote without the " – Snusifer Sep 05 '19 at 13:46
1

@Snusifer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11456403/stop-shell-wildcard-character-expansion – bruno desthuilliers Sep 05 '19 at 13:55

1 Answers1