Getting file size in Python?

Question

Is there a built-in function for getting the size of a file object in bytes? I see some people do something like this:

def getSize(fileobject):
    fileobject.seek(0,2) # move the cursor to the end of the file
    size = fileobject.tell()
    return size

file = open('myfile.bin', 'rb')
print getSize(file)

But from my experience with Python, it has a lot of helper functions so I'm guessing maybe there is one built-in.

`Path('./doc.txt').stat().st_size` – Boris Verkhovskiy Dec 31 '19 at 18:21 — Boris Verkhovskiy, Dec 31 '19 at 18:21

score 967 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 15 '20 at 19:43

967

Use os.path.getsize(path) which will

Return the size, in bytes, of path. Raise OSError if the file does not exist or is inaccessible.

import os
os.path.getsize('C:\\Python27\\Lib\\genericpath.py')

Or use os.stat(path).st_size

import os
os.stat('C:\\Python27\\Lib\\genericpath.py').st_size

Or use Path(path).stat().st_size (Python 3.4+)

from pathlib import Path
Path('C:\\Python27\\Lib\\genericpath.py').stat().st_size

edited Mar 15 '20 at 19:43

Boris Verkhovskiy

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answered Jul 06 '11 at 05:33

Artsiom Rudzenka

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Thanks you all. I don't know if you can reply to all posts at once, so I'll just rply to the last answerer. I can't seem to get it to work. ` File "C:\\python\lib\genericpath.py", line 49, in getsize return os.stat(filename).st_size TypeError: stat() argument 1 must be encoded string without NULL bytes, not str` – 6966488-1 Jul 06 '11 at 05:39
1

Think you need "C:\\python\\lib\\genericpath.py" - e.g. os.path.getsize('C:\\Python27\\Lib\\genericpath.py') or os.stat('C:\\Python27\\Lib\\genericpath.py').st_size – Artsiom Rudzenka Jul 06 '11 at 05:43
@696, Python will let you have NULL bytes it strings, but it doesn't make sense to pass those into getsize because the filename can't have NULL bytes in it – John La Rooy Jul 06 '11 at 05:45
4

I ran both with `%timeit` on all the files in a given directory and found `os.stat` to be marginally faster (~6%). – J'e Nov 04 '16 at 16:00
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@16num Which is just logical because `os.path.getsize()` does nothing else than calling `os.stat().st_size`. – Martin Nov 22 '16 at 12:24

score 252 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 14 '13 at 04:18

252

os.path.getsize(path)

Return the size, in bytes, of path. Raise os.error if the file does not exist or is inaccessible.

edited Mar 14 '13 at 04:18

Oscar Mederos

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answered Jul 06 '11 at 05:32

K Mehta

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Just as a note for someone curious, getsize() behind the scenes does os.stat(path).st_size, which was the other approach explained here. – Melardev Feb 05 '20 at 21:04

score 97 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 02 '18 at 18:17

97

You may use os.stat() function, which is a wrapper of system call stat():

import os

def getSize(filename):
    st = os.stat(filename)
    return st.st_size

edited Jan 02 '18 at 18:17

kabirbaidhya

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answered Jul 06 '11 at 05:34

ZelluX

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returns it in kb right? – 3kstc Jun 04 '19 at 04:46
2

No, it's in Bytes. – Andre Wisplinghoff Jun 17 '19 at 07:28

score 27 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 06 '11 at 05:33

27

Try

os.path.getsize(filename)

It should return the size of a file, reported by os.stat().

answered Jul 06 '11 at 05:33

rajasaur

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score 16 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 14 '13 at 04:18

16

You can use os.stat(path) call

http://docs.python.org/library/os.html#os.stat

edited Mar 14 '13 at 04:18

Oscar Mederos

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answered Jul 06 '11 at 05:33

IvanGL

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Getting file size in Python?

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