Working with file paths using Python pathlib
Jul 12, 2025 am 02:19 AMPython's pathlib module is more intuitive and object-oriented than os.path and is recommended for processing file paths. 1. Get the current path available Path(__file__).resolve().parent (in script) or Path.cwd() (interactive environment). 2. Use path.exists(), path.is_file(), and path.is_dir() to determine whether the path exists and types. 3. Use Path.iterdir() or Path.glob("*.txt") to traverse the directory, and use rglob() to recursively search. 4. Use mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) to create a directory, and use rmdir() or shutil.rmtree() to delete it. Mastering these techniques can improve code readability and robustness and avoid common path problems.
When processing file paths, using the right method can really save a lot of trouble. After the introduction of Python's pathlib
module from version 3.4, it has gradually replaced the old os.path
method, which is more intuitive, object-oriented, and easier to write clear code.

Below are some tips and precautions that are particularly useful in actual operation.
Get the current file or directory path
Many times we need to obtain the directory where the current script is located, or construct a relative path. Use Path(__file__).resolve()
to get the full path to the current file, and then combine it with .parent
to easily locate the project root directory or a subdirectory.

For example:
from pathlib import Path current_dir = Path(__file__).resolve().parent data_path = current_dir / "data" / "example.txt"
This method is much clearer than splicing strings and is more cross-platform compatibility.

Note: If you are running in an interactive environment (such as Jupyter Notebook), __file__
may not be available. At this time, you can use Path.cwd()
to get the current working directory.
Determine whether the path exists and type
It is best to confirm whether the file exists before processing it, otherwise it is prone to errors. Path
provides several convenient methods:
-
path.exists()
: determines whether the path exists -
path.is_file()
: Is it a file -
path.is_dir()
: Is it a directory
A common practice is to check the existence first, then judge the type, and avoid misoperation.
For example:
path = Path("data/sample.csv") if path.exists(): if path.is_file(): print("This is a file") elif path.is_dir(): print("This is a directory") else: print("Path does not exist")
Although this logic is simple, it is very practical in automated scripts and can effectively prevent path errors from causing program crashes.
Iterate over files in the directory
Want to batch process files in a certain directory? Path.iterdir()
and Path.glob()
are two commonly used tools.
-
iterdir()
returns everything in the directory, but does not recurse -
glob("*.txt")
can match files by pattern and support wildcard characters
For example, if you want to find all the .csv
files in a certain directory:
csv_files = Path("data").glob("*.csv") for file in csv_files: print(file.name)
If you want to recursively search for files in subdirectories, you can use **/*.csv
to write them:
all_csv = Path("data").rglob("*.csv")
This way you can traverse the entire directory tree and find all files that meet the criteria.
Create and delete directories
Sometimes it is necessary to dynamically create temporary directories to save intermediate results, or to clean up old data. Path.mkdir()
and Path.rmdir()
can accomplish these tasks.
A few points to note:
- By default
mkdir()
will not automatically create the parent directory unless the parameterparents=True
is added - If the directory already exists, calling
mkdir()
will report an error. You can addexist_ok=True
to ignore the error
Example:
output_dir = Path("output/reports") output_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
Be careful when deleting directories, rmdir()
can only delete empty directories. If there are files in the directory, it is recommended to use them with shutil.rmtree()
.
Basically that's it.
pathlib
looks simple, but if used properly, it can significantly improve the readability and robustness of the code. Some details such as path stitching, cross-platform differences, and existence inspections can avoid many problems by paying a little attention.
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