Finding pathnames matching a Unix-style pattern in Python
The glob standard library helps to find pathnames matching a Unix-style pattern, using its glob() function. You can use Unix wildcards such as *, ? and character ranges with [ ].
# Directory structure of sample Folder
│ 1ab.txt
│ a2.txt
│ a2b.txt
│ abc.txt
│ def.txt
│ picture.jpg
│ python.py
│ word.docx
└───dir1
file1underDir1.txt
>>> import glob
# The * denotes one or more characters
>>> glob.glob('*.txt') # matches files with extension 'txt'
['1ab.txt', 'a2.txt', 'a2b.txt', 'abc.txt', 'def.txt']
>>> glob.glob('*.doc*') # matches files with extension having the string 'doc' in it.
['word.docx']
# The ? denotes a single character
>>> glob.glob('??.txt') # matches text files with only two letters in its name.
['a2.txt']
# [character-range] matches any character lying in the said range.
>>> glob.glob('[a-z][0-9].txt') # matches two-character named text files with an alphabetic first character & numeric second character.
['a2.txt']
>>> glob.glob('[a-z][0-9][a-z].txt') # matches three-character named text files with an alphabetic first character, numeric second character & an alphabetic third character.
['a2b.txt']
# The '**' pattern matches any file, directory or subdirectory.
>>> glob.glob('**')
['1ab.txt', 'a2.txt', 'a2b.txt', 'abc.txt', 'def.txt', 'dir1', 'picture.jpg', 'python.py', 'word.docx']
See also:
- Python 101
- Object Oriented Python
- Design Patterns in Python
- 50+ Handy Standard Library Modules
- 60+ Handy Third Library Modules
- 50+ Tips & Tricks for Python Developers
- 50+ Know-How(s) Every Pythonista Must Know