disk 2021.6.29

Python library for interacting with the file system

Disk

Disk is a Python library for interacting with the file system in an object oriented manner. I know you can use os and os.path to do all of these but I find their usage hard to remember and true to object oriented principles.

Installation

You can use pip to install Disk:

pip install disk

Usage

All files and directories (folders) are considered Path objects. Any path except the root, has a parent: the directory it is in. Directories have children, some of them are files and some are subdirectories.

Path

The Path object points to an existing or non-existing file or directory.

from disk import Path
path = Path('C:\\')

get_current_directory

Usually we want to start in the current working directory:

path = Path.get_current_directory()

list, dir, ls

All of the above methods do the same thing; ls is for linux people, dir is for windows people, and list is for literal people.

print(path.list())

directories

To get the sub-directories of a directory use the directories attribute which returns a list of Paths:

subdirectories = path.directories

files

To get the files inside a directory use the files attribute which returns a list of Paths:

files = path.files

parent_directory

The parent directory is the directory a Path (either file or directory) is inside of.

parent_directory = path.parent_directory

make_directory

To create a new directory inside a Path that is also a directory, use make_directory with the name of the new directory as the name argument:

path.make_directory(name='new_directory')

You can also create a directory at the location of the Path object by letting the name argument take its default value of None:

path.make_directory()

make_parent_directory

Sometimes you need to create a new file at a Path that doesn't already exist, i.e. the directory of the file location doesn't exist. This is when make_parent_directory becomes handy:

path.make_parent_directory(ignore_if_exists=True)

The default value of ignore_if_exists is True.

delete

The delete function moves a file or directory to the trash. If the name argument is provided the file or directory inside the Path with that name will be deleted:

path.delete(name='new_directory')

If the name argument is not provided the file or directory the Path points to will be deleted:

path.delete()

save

To save a Python object as a Pickle file using the pickle or dill library you can just use the save function of the Path which saves the object right at the location of Path.

my_list = [1, 2, 3]
Path('my_list.pickle').save(my_list, method='pickle')
Path('my_list.dill').save(my_list, method='dill')

load

To load an object from a Pickle file located at a Path you can run the load function of the Path.

list_from_pickle = Path('my_list.pickle').load(method='pickle')
list_from_dill = Path('my_list.dill').load(method='dill')