Open file in a relative location in Python

Question

Suppose python code is executed in not known by prior windows directory say  main    and wherever code is installed when it runs it needs to access to directory  main 2091 data txt     how should I use open location  function  what should be location    Edit    I found that below simple code will work  does it have any disadvantages        file   2091 sample txt      path os getcwd   file     fp open path  r

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I spend a lot time to discover why my code could not find my file running Python 3 on the Windows system  So I added   before   and everything worked fine   import os  script dir   os path dirname   file    file path   os path join script dir     output03 txt   print file path  fptr   open file path   w

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import os def file path relative path       dir   os path dirname os path abspath   file         split path   relative path split          new path   os path join dir   split path      return new path  with open file path  2091 data txt     w   as f      f write  Powerful you have become

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Not sure if this work everywhere   I m using ipython in ubuntu   If you want to read file in current folder s sub-directory    current-folder sub-directory data csv   your script is in current-folder simply try this   import pandas as pd path      sub-directory data csv  pd read csv path

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If the file is in your parent folder  eg  follower txt  you can simply use open     follower txt    r   read

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I created an account just so I could clarify a discrepancy I think I found in Russ s original response   For reference  his original answer was   import os script dir   os path dirname   file    rel path    2091 data txt  abs file path   os path join script dir  rel path    This is a great answer because it is trying to dynamically creates an absolute system path to the desired file   Cory Mawhorter noticed that   file   is a relative path  it is as well on my system  and suggested using os path abspath   file      os path abspath  however  returns the absolute path of your current script  i e   path to dir foobar py   To use this method  and how I eventually got it working  you have to remove the script name from the end of the path   import os script path   os path abspath   file      i e   path to dir foobar py script dir   os path split script path  0   i e   path to dir  rel path    2091 data txt  abs file path   os path join script dir  rel path    The resulting abs file path  in this example  becomes   path to dir 2091 data txt

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Code   import os script path   os path abspath   file     path list   script path split os sep  script directory   path list 0 len path list -1  rel path    main 2091 data txt  path       join script directory          rel path   Explanation   Import library   import os   Use   file   to attain the current script s path   script path   os path abspath   file      Separates the script path into multiple items   path list   script path split os sep    Remove the last item in the list  the actual script file    script directory   path list 0 len path list -1    Add the relative file s path   rel path    main 2091 data txt   Join the list items  and addition the relative path s file   path       join script directory          rel path   Now you are set to do whatever you want with the file  such as  for example   file   open path

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Python just passes the filename you give it to the operating system  which opens it  If your operating system supports relative paths like main 2091 data txt  hint  it does   then that will work fine   You may find that the easiest way to answer a question like this is to try it and see what happens

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It depends on what operating system you re using  If you want a solution that is compatible with both Windows and  nix something like   from os import path  file path   path relpath  2091 data txt   with open file path  as f       lt do stuff gt    should work fine   The path module is able to format a path for whatever operating system it s running on  Also  python handles relative paths just fine  so long as you have correct permissions   Edit   As mentioned by kindall in the comments  python can convert between unix-style and windows-style paths anyway  so even simpler code will work   with open  2091 data txt   as f       lt do stuff gt    That being said  the path module still has some useful functions

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This code works fine   import os   def readFile filename       filehandle   open filename      print filehandle read       filehandle close      fileDir   os path dirname os path realpath    file      print fileDir   For accessing the file in the same folder filename    same txt  readFile filename    For accessing the file in a folder contained in the current folder filename   os path join fileDir   Folder1 1 same txt   readFile filename    For accessing the file in the parent folder of the current folder filename   os path join fileDir      same txt   readFile filename    For accessing the file inside a sibling folder  filename   os path join fileDir      Folder2 same txt   filename   os path abspath os path realpath filename   print filename readFile filename

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With this type of thing you need to be careful what your actual working directory is   For example  you may not run the script from the directory the file is in   In this case  you can t just use a relative path by itself   If you are sure the file you want is in a subdirectory beneath where the script is actually located  you can use   file   to help you out here     file   is the full path to where the script you are running is located   So you can fiddle with something like this   import os script dir   os path dirname   file      lt -- absolute dir the script is in rel path    2091 data txt  abs file path   os path join script dir  rel path

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When I was a beginner I found these descriptions a bit intimidating  As at first I would try For Windows f  open  C  Users chidu Desktop Skipper New Special Note txt   w    print f    and this would raise an syntax error  I used get confused alot  Then after some surfing across google  found why the error occurred  Writing this for beginners It s because for path to be read in Unicode you simple add a   when starting file path f  open  C   Users chidu Desktop Skipper New Special Note txt   w    print f   And now it works just add   before starting the directory

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Try this   from pathlib import Path  data folder   Path   relative path   file to open   data folder    file pdf   f   open file to open   print f read      Python 3 4 introduced a new standard library for dealing with files and paths called pathlib  It works for me

[python] Open file in a relative location in Python

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