Overview

node.ext.fs is a node implementation for file system directories. It is the successor of node.ext.directory.

For more information about node see https://pypi.python.org/pypi/node.

Usage

Create new file:

from node.ext.fs import File

file_path = 'file.txt'
f = File(name=file_path)

# set contents via data attribute
f.data = 'data\n'

# set contents via lines attribute
f.lines = ['data']

# set permissions
f.fs_mode = 0o644

# persist
f()

Read existing file:

file_path = 'file.txt'
f = File(name=file_path)

assert(f.data == 'data\n')
assert(f.lines == ['data'])
assert(f.fs_mode == 0o644)

Files with binary data:

from node.ext.fs import MODE_BINARY

file_path = 'file.txt'
f = File(name=file_path)
f.mode = MODE_BINARY

f.data = b'\x00\x00'

assert(f.data == b'\x00\x00')

# lines property won't work if file in binary mode
f.lines  # raises RuntimeError

Create directory:

from node.ext.fs import Directory

dir_path = '.'
d = Directory(name=dir_path)

# add subdirectories and files
d['sub'] = Directory()
d['file.txt'] = File()

# set permissions for directory
d['sub'].fs_mode = 0o755

# persist
d()

Read existing directory:

dir_path = '.'
d = Directory(name=dir_path)

>>> d.printtree()
<class 'node.ext.fs.directory.Directory'>: .
  <class 'node.ext.fs.directory.File'>: file.txt
  <class 'node.ext.fs.directory.Directory'>: sub

Defining the default factories for files and directories is done by setting default_file_factory respective default_directory_factory:

class CustomFile(File):
    pass

class CustomDirectory(Directory):
    default_file_factory = CustomFile

CustomDirectory.default_directory_factory = CustomDirectory

dir_path = '.'
d = CustomDirectory(name=dir_path)

>>> d.printtree()
<class '...CustomDirectory'>: .
  <class '...CustomFile'>: file.txt
  <class '...CustomDirectory'>: sub

Define wildcard factories. Factories can be defined for directories and files. Pattern matching is done using fnmatch. See node.behaviors.WildcardFactory:

class TextFile(File):
    pass

class LogsDirectory(Directory):
    pass

d = Directory(
    name='.',
    factories={
        '*.txt': TextFile,
        'logs': LogsDirectory
    })

Now when reading children, factories matching the file or directory name patterns are used to instantiate the children, using the default factories if no pattern matches.

>>> os.mkdir('logs')

>>> os.mkdir('other')

>>> with open('file.txt', 'w') as f:
...     f.write('text')

>>> with open('file.rst', 'w') as f:
...     f.write('rst')

>>> d = Directory(
...     name='.',
...     factories={
...         '*.txt': TextFile,
...         'logs': LogsDirectory
...     })

>>> d.printtree()
<class 'node.ext.fs.directory.Directory'>: .
  <class '...File'>: file.rst
  <class '...TextFile'>: file.txt
  <class '...LogsDirectory'>: logs
  <class '...Directory'>: other

2.0.1 (2026-10-31)

• Modernise the code ruff flags as outdated: u'' prefixes, class X(object) and .format() over f-strings. Behaviour unchanged. super(Class, self) is kept, see cone.app. [rnix]

• Sort the imports with ruff (one per line, from imports first, no sections) and format the code with ruff format (90 characters per line, single quotes). [rnix]

• Add qa.ruff domain to Makefile and pin the ruff configuration in pyproject.toml, make check runs ruff check. [rnix]

• Drop the Python 2 remnants: node.compat usage, IS_PY2 branches, # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- and the _encode_name helper, which did nothing on Python 3. fs_encoding is unused now but kept. [rnix]

2.0.0 (2026-02-03)

• Refactor package layout to use pyproject.toml and implicit namespace packages. [rnix]

1.2 (2025-10-25)

• Pin upper versions of dependencies. [rnix]

1.1 (2022-12-21)

• Introduce node.ext.fs.interfaces.IDirectory.rename and implement in node.ext.fs.directory.DirectoryStorage. [rnix]

• Do not allow setting and deleting of directory children defined in ignores. [rnix]

1.0 (2022-10-06)

• Subclass threading.local for node.ext.fs.directory._directory_context objects in order to safely provide default values. [rnix]

• Introduce IFileIO interface and FileIO plumbing behavior. [rnix]

• Introduce IFileNode interface. [rnix]

• Pass name and parent to default file and directory factories. [rnix]

• DirectoryStorage accepts fs_path keyword argument. [rnix]

• Rename _FSModeMixin plumbing behavior to FSMode. Setting the actual file mode is now done by plumbing __call__ function. [rnix]

• Introduce FSLocation plumbing behavior. [rnix]

Breaking Changes

• Package has been renamed from node.ext.directory to node.ext.fs. There are too many breaking changes for a sane deprecation path. [rnix]

• DirectoryStorage.__init__ no longer accepts deprecated backup keyword argument. [rnix]

• DirectoryStorage.child_directory_factory has been renamed to default_directory_factory [rnix]

• DirectoryStorage derives from node.behaviors.WildcardFactory now. Own factory pattern logic working with file endings has been removed. Patterns must be adopted. [rnix]

• Remove global file_factories and DirectoryStorage.file_factories. Wildcard pattern related factories are defined via DirectoryStorage.factories now. [rnix]

• Remove IFileAddedEvent and node.ext.fs.events module. If you need lifecycle events, use node.behaviors.Lifecycle instead. [rnix]

• Basic File and Directory objects no longer use referencing related plumbung behaviors. You need to define your own base objects plumbing INodeReference implemeting behaviors. [rnix]

• Reduce IFile interface. It no longer inherits from ILeaf and default file implementation related attributes were moved to IFileNode interface. This way it is possible to implement very custom file implementations without breaking the interface contract. [rnix]

• Rename FileStorage to FileNode. It no longer inherits from DictStorage. Further file data is no longer kept in memory unless it changes, then it’s kept until it gets written to disk. [rnix]

• FileNode and DirectoryStorage not inherits from _FSModeMixin respective now FSMode behavior any more. FSMode behavior must be applied explicit on nodes which should provide this behavior. [rnix]

• Rename _fs_path helper function to get_fs_path. [rnix]

• Rename _fs_mode helper function to get_fs_mode. [rnix]

0.8 (2022-03-21)

• Replace deprecated use of Nodify by MappingNode. [rnix]

• Replace deprecated use of Adopt by MappingAdopt. [rnix]

0.7

• Python 3 support. [rnix, 2017-06-06]

• fs_mode is read from filesystem if file or directory exists and fs_mode not set explicitely. [rnix, 2017-06-06]

• Remove backup option from IDirectory interface. It never really worked properly and conceptually IDirectory is the wrong place for handling backups of files. [rnix, 2017-06-04]

0.6

• Introduce node.ext.directory.interfaces.IFile.direct_sync setting. [rnix, 2017-01-30]

• Complete node.ext.directory.interfaces.IFile and node.ext.directory.interfaces.IDirectory to reflect implemented features. [rnix, 2017-01-30]

• Move node.ext.directory.directory.MODE_TEXT and node.ext.directory.directory.MODE_BINARY to node.ext.directory.interfaces. [rnix, 2017-01-30]

0.5.4

• Check whether directory to be peristed already exists by name as file in node.ext.directory.FileStorage.__call__. [rnix, 2015-10-05]

• Implement fallback to path in node.ext.directory.FileStorage.__call__ if fs_path not exists. [rnix, 2015-10-05]

• Implement fallback to path in node.ext.directory.FileStorage._get_data if fs_path not exists. [rnix, 2015-10-05]

• Set initial mode with self.mode property setter instead of internal self._mode in node.ext.directory.FileStorage._get_mode. [rnix, 2015-10-05]

0.5.3

• Remove deleted keys from internal reference after __call__ in order to return the correct result when adding a file or directory with the same key again. [rnix, 2015-07-20]

0.5.2

• Use try/except instead of iteration to check whether directory child already in memory. [rnix, 2015-05-12]

0.5.1

• Always use os.chmod for setting directory permissions, not only if already exists. [rnix, 2015-03-03]

0.5

• Introduce fs_mode on directories and files. [rnix, 2015-03-03]

0.4

• Return empty list in File.lines if no data. [rnix, 2015-02-18]

• Consider filesystem encoding. Defaults to UTF-8. [rnix, 2015-02-18]

• Tree locking on modification. [rnix, 2014-09-02]

• Prevent empty keys in __setitem__. [rnix, 2014-09-02]

• Use plumbing decorator. [rnix, 2014-08-25]

0.3

• introduce default_file_factory on directories for controlling default file child creation. [rnix, 2013-12-09]

• move file logic in FileStorage behavior. [rnix, 2013-08-06]

• make file_factories a class property on directory storage. [rnix, 2013-08-06]

• make ignores a class property on directory storage. [rnix, 2013-08-06]

• Cleanup interfaces. [rnix, 2013-08-06]

0.2

• Almost complete rewrite. Fits now paradigms of node based API’s. [rnix, 2012-01-30]

0.1

• initial