[python] Get a filtered list of files in a directory

Keep it simple:

import os
relevant_path = "[path to folder]"
included_extensions = ['jpg','jpeg', 'bmp', 'png', 'gif']
file_names = [fn for fn in os.listdir(relevant_path)
              if any(fn.endswith(ext) for ext in included_extensions)]

I prefer this form of list comprehensions because it reads well in English.

I read the fourth line as: For each fn in os.listdir for my path, give me only the ones that match any one of my included extensions.

It may be hard for novice python programmers to really get used to using list comprehensions for filtering, and it can have some memory overhead for very large data sets, but for listing a directory and other simple string filtering tasks, list comprehensions lead to more clean documentable code.

The only thing about this design is that it doesn't protect you against making the mistake of passing a string instead of a list. For example if you accidentally convert a string to a list and end up checking against all the characters of a string, you could end up getting a slew of false positives.

But it's better to have a problem that's easy to fix than a solution that's hard to understand.

Examples related to python

programming a servo thru a barometer Is there a way to view two blocks of code from the same file simultaneously in Sublime Text? python variable NameError Why my regexp for hyphenated words doesn't work? Comparing a variable with a string python not working when redirecting from bash script is it possible to add colors to python output? Get Public URL for File - Google Cloud Storage - App Engine (Python) Real time face detection OpenCV, Python xlrd.biffh.XLRDError: Excel xlsx file; not supported Could not load dynamic library 'cudart64_101.dll' on tensorflow CPU-only installation

Examples related to filesystems

Get an image extension from an uploaded file in Laravel Notepad++ cached files location No space left on device How to create a directory using Ansible best way to get folder and file list in Javascript Exploring Docker container's file system Remove directory which is not empty GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM not set Trying to create a file in Android: open failed: EROFS (Read-only file system) Node.js check if path is file or directory

Examples related to wildcard

Matching strings with wildcard Rename multiple files in cmd Google Spreadsheet, Count IF contains a string using wildcards in LDAP search filters/queries Can the "IN" operator use LIKE-wildcards (%) in Oracle? Using SED with wildcard Need to perform Wildcard (*,?, etc) search on a string using Regex Check if a file exists with wildcard in shell script Pattern matching using a wildcard wildcard * in CSS for classes

Examples related to glob

How to loop over files in directory and change path and add suffix to filename glob exclude pattern Regular Expression usage with ls How can I search sub-folders using glob.glob module? Loop through all the files with a specific extension Deleting all files from a folder using PHP? Python glob multiple filetypes How to count the number of files in a directory using Python Get a filtered list of files in a directory How to use glob() to find files recursively?

Examples related to directory-listing

Non-alphanumeric list order from os.listdir() Vbscript list all PDF files in folder and subfolders Get a list of all the files in a directory (recursive) How do you get a list of the names of all files present in a directory in Node.js? How to get the list of files in a directory in a shell script? Recursive directory listing in DOS Get a filtered list of files in a directory