Python Check if File Exists: How to Check if a Directory Exists?

Explain Python exists()

The OS module in Python lets us interact with the operating system. This comes under Python’s standard utility modules and gives a portable way to use the dependent functions of the operating system. The exists() function in Python exists in the os.path module, which is a submodule of the python’s OS module and is used to check if a particular file exists or not.

Syntax

from os.path import exists

file_exists = exists(path_to_file)

Different Ways to Verify a File or Python Check if Directory Exists, Using Functions

There are multiple ways to check if a file or directory exists or not. In this current article, we are going to perform this check using Python functions. Some of them are explained briefly below-

How to Check if a File Exists in Python Using:

1. os.path.exists()

As mentioned in an earlier paragraph, we know that we use os.path.exists() to check if a file or directory exists using Python. We further use this method to check if a particular file path refers to an already open descriptor or not.

Function Syntax

os.path.exists(path)

Parameter

Return type - Return a boolean type value, i.e., false if the path does not exist and true if it exists.

path - A string type or bytes type object referring to a system path.

Example

import os

# Specifying path

path = '/usr/local/bin/'

# Checking whether the specified path exists

isExisting = os.path.exists(path)

print(isExisting)

# Specifying path

path = '/home/User/Diksha/Desktop/file.txt'

# Checking whether the specified path exists

isExisting = os.path.exists(path)

print(isExisting)

Output

False

True

2. os.path.isfile()

os.path.isfile() is another method that is used to check if a particular regular file in Python exists or not.

Function Syntax

os.path.isfile(path)

Parameter

Return type - Return a boolean type value.

path - A string type or bytes type object referring to a system path.

Example

import os

# defining Path

path = 'C:/Users/simplilearn/Desktop/file.txt'

# Checking whether the specified path exists

isFile = os.path.isfile(path)

print(isFile)

# defining Path

path = '/home/User/Diksha/Desktop/'

# Checking whether the specified path exists

isFile = os.path.isfile(path)

print(isFile)

Output

True

False

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3. os.path.isdir()

This function is used to check if a specified path exists in a directory or not. The specified path follows a symbolic path linking to the specified directory. 

Function Syntax

os.path.isdir(path)

Parameter

Return type - Returns a boolean type value, i.e., false if the specified path to the existing does not exist, true if it does.

path - os.path.isdir(path)

Example 1

import os.path

# defining Path

path = '/home/User/Documents/file.txt'

# Check whether the specified path exists

isdir = os.path.isdir(path)

print(isdir)  

# defining Path

path = '/home/User/Documents/'  

# Check whether the specified path exists

isdir = os.path.isdir(path)

print(isdir)

Output

True

False

Example 2 - To Check if the Specified Path Is a Symbolic Path

import os.path

# Creating a directory

dirname = "Simplilearn"

os.mkdir(dirname)   

# Creating a symbolic link to point to above directory

symbolink_path = "/home/User/Desktop/simp"

os.symlink(dirname, symbolink_path)   

path = dirname   

# Checking if 

# specified path is an existing directory 

isdir = os.path.isdir(path)

print(isdir)

path = symbolink_path

# Checking whether the specified path

# is an existing directory

isdir = os.path.isdir(path)

print(isdir)

Output

True 

True

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4. pathlibPath.exists()

The Python Pathlib module contains a number of classes that describe file system paths and have semantics that are acceptable for various operating systems. This module is part of Python's standard utility module collection. Concrete and Pure paths are the two types of path classes in the pathlib module. Pure routes only perform computations and do not perform I/O operations, whereas concrete pathways are inherited from pure paths and perform both I/O and computational activities.

The pathlib.Path.exists() method is mainly used to check if the given path points to an existing directory or a file.

Function Syntax

pathlib.Path.exists(path)

Parameter

Return type - Return a boolean type value, true if the path exists, false if it does not.

path - Object that represents the system path.

Example

from pathlib import Path

# defining Path

path = '/home/simplilearn/Desktop'   

# Instantiating the Path class

obj = Path(path)   

# Checking if the path points to and existing file 

print(obj.exists())

Output

True

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In this article, we discussed the various ways to check if a file or directory exists or not using Python. Before performing any operations on the files or directory using built-in Python functions, it is extremely crucial to check if a particular file or directory exists or not in Python.

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