Check if a File or Directory Exists in Python

Last Updated : 04 Jan, 2025

To check how to check if a Directory Exists without exceptions in Python we have the following ways to check whether a file or directory already exists or not.

Table of Content

OS Module

Pathlib Module

Using pathlib.Path.exists()

OS Module

OS module in Python provides functions for interacting with the operating system. OS comes under Python’s standard utility modules. This module provides a portable way of using operating system-dependent functionality. os.path module is a submodule of the OS module in Python used for common path name manipulation.

Using os.path.exists()

The os.path.exists() method in Python is used to check whether the specified path exists or not. This method can be also used to check whether the given path refers to an open file descriptor or not.

Python

import os  # Example 1 # Specify path path = '/usr/local/bin/'  # Check whether the specified path exists or not isExist = os.path.exists(path) print(isExist)  # Example 2 # Specify path path = '/home/User/Desktop/file.txt'  # Check whether the specified path exists or not isExist = os.path.exists(path) print(isExist)

Output

True False

Using os.path.isfile()

os.path.isfile() method in Python is used to check whether the specified path is an existing regular file or not.

Python

# importing os module import os  # Path path = 'C:/Users/gfg/Desktop/file.txt'  # Check whether the specified path is # an existing file isFile = os.path.isfile(path) print(isFile)  # Path path = '/home/User/Desktop/'  # Check whether the specified path is # an existing file isFile = os.path.isfile(path) print(isFile)

Output:

True
False

Using os.path.isdir()

os.path.isdir() method in Python is used to check whether the specified path is an existing directory or not. This method follows a symbolic link, which means if the specified path is a symbolic link pointing to a directory then the method will return True.

Example 1: Python program to explain os.path.isdir() method.

Python

# importing os.path module import os.path  # Path path = '/home/User/Documents/file.txt'  # Check whether the specified path is an # existing directory or not isdir = os.path.isdir(path) print(isdir)  # Path path = '/home/User/Documents/'  # Check whether the specified path is an # existing directory or not isdir = os.path.isdir(path) print(isdir)

Output:

False
True

Example 2: Python program to explain os.path.isdir() method, If the specified path is a symbolic link.

Python

# importing os.path module import os.path  # Create a directory # (in current working directory) dirname = "GeeksForGeeks" os.mkdir(dirname)  # Create a symbolic link # pointing to above directory symlink_path = "/home/User/Desktop/gfg" os.symlink(dirname, symlink_path)  path = dirname  # Now, Check whether the specified path is an # existing directory or not isdir = os.path.isdir(path) print(isdir)  path = symlink_path  # Check whether the specified path (which is a symbolic link)  # is an existing directory or not isdir = os.path.isdir(path) print(isdir)

Output:

True
True

Pathlib Module

Pathlib module in Python provides various classes representing file system paths with semantics appropriate for different operating systems. This module comes under Python’s standard utility modules. Path classes in the Pathlib module are divided into pure paths and concrete paths. Pure paths provide only computational operations but do not provides I/O operations, while concrete paths inherit from pure paths provide computational as well as I/O operations.

Using pathlib.Path.exists()

The pathlib.Path.exists() method is used to check whether the given path points to an existing file or directory or not.

Python

# Import Path class from pathlib import Path  # Path path = '/home/gfg/Desktop'  # Instantiate the Path class obj = Path(path)  # Check if path points to # an existing file or directory print(obj.exists())

Output:

True

If you’re searching in current directory or below, to find the folder, use ./ before folder name or it’ll give wrong result.

Python

import os  print(os.path.isdir('./my_folder')) # print true or false if my_folder exist or not in current directory   print(os.path.isdir('./Folder/search_folder')) #will tell if search_folder exist or not inside Folder

Python - List Files in a Directory

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Check if a File or Directory Exists in Python

OS Module

Using os.path.exists()

Using os.path.isfile()

Using os.path.isdir()

Pathlib Module

Using pathlib.Path.exists()

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