I am using Python 3.2 on Windows 7. When I open the Python shell, how can I know what the current directory is and how can I change it to another directory where my modules are?
This question is related to
python
windows
python-3.x
python-3.2
>>> import os
>>> os.system('cd c:\mydir')
In fact, os.system()
can execute any command that windows command prompt can execute, not just change dir.
The easiest way to change the current working directory in python is using the 'os' package. Below there is an example for windows computer:
# Import the os package
import os
# Confirm the current working directory
os.getcwd()
# Use '\\' while changing the directory
os.chdir("C:\\user\\foldername")
You can try this:
import os
current_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)) # Can also use os.getcwd()
print(current_dir) # prints(say)- D:\abc\def\ghi\jkl\mno"
new_dir = os.chdir('..\\..\\..\\')
print(new_dir) # prints "D:\abc\def\ghi"
you want
import os
os.getcwd()
os.chdir('..')
If you import os
you can use os.getcwd
to get the current working directory, and you can use os.chdir
to change your directory
Changing the current directory is not the way to deal with finding modules in Python.
Rather, see the docs for The Module Search Path for how Python finds which module to import.
Here is a relevant bit from Standard Modules section:
The variable sys.path is a list of strings that determines the interpreter’s search path for modules. It is initialized to a default path taken from the environment variable PYTHONPATH, or from a built-in default if PYTHONPATH is not set. You can modify it using standard list operations:
>>> import sys
>>> sys.path.append('/ufs/guido/lib/python')
In answer your original question about getting and setting the current directory:
>>> help(os.getcwd)
getcwd(...)
getcwd() -> path
Return a string representing the current working directory.
>>> help(os.chdir)
chdir(...)
chdir(path)
Change the current working directory to the specified path.
Source: Stackoverflow.com