ezdir

Simple utilities to change the current working directory in Python:

• up(n) changes working folder to be up n directory levels.
• goto("foldername") changes working folder to the first parent folder (within the original path) matching a name.
• find("foldername") changes working folder to the first parent folder matching a name under n directory levels.

Examples

If your current file is Users/me/MyWork/src/main/work[.py/.ipynb] and you wanted to go up one level to src you could use the up function:

import ezdir

ezdir.up(levels=1)

If you wanted to go to Users/me/MyWork/src you could go up two levels or use the goto function:

import ezdir

ezdir.trim(folder_name='src')

As the src folder is within the original path.

If you wanted to switch your working directory to Users/me/MyWork/tests you could use find:

import ezdir

ezdir.find(levels=2, folder_name='tests')

As this will go up two levels, and then search for a tests folder. We include a number of excluded folders (e.g. build), but you can exclude more folders by passing a list to the ezdir.find as the add_ignore_subfolders variable.

Installation

pip install ezdir

Why use it?

Changing working directory in a Jupyter Notebook

If you are using a notebook on a cloud server, your working directory might be different to some elses. Normally people do something like:

import os

os.chdir(path)

But sometimes this path will be different based on the user. This library provides a more sensible way of going up folder paths whether you're using a python script or a notebook.