pyfilechoose

R's file.choose(), reimplemented for Python.

In R, file.choose() opens a file picker and returns the path you select. pyfilechoose gives you the same one-liner in Python, with no GUI boilerplate and no leftover Tk windows.

It uses tkinter from the standard library, so it has no third-party dependencies.

📖 Full documentation: https://Pinto-Katende-Jonathan.github.io/pyfilechoose/ (installation, usage, API reference, internals, and troubleshooting).

Installation

With pip:

pip install pyfilechoose

With uv:

# Add it to your project
uv add pyfilechoose

# ...or install it into the current environment
uv pip install pyfilechoose

# ...or run a one-off script that uses it, no install needed
uv run --with pyfilechoose your_script.py

On Linux, tkinter ships with most Python builds but may need to be installed separately, e.g. sudo apt install python3-tk.

Usage

Pick a single file

from pyfilechoose import file_choose

path = file_choose()
print(path)  # absolute path of the file you selected

With pandas (the classic R workflow)

file_choose() returns a path string, so it works with any function that takes a file path, including pd.read_csv:

import pandas as pd
from pyfilechoose import file_choose

# Just like df <- read.csv(file.choose()) in R
df = pd.read_csv(file_choose())

You can still pass the usual pandas options, and filter the picker to CSVs:

df = pd.read_csv(file_choose(filetypes=[("CSV files", "*.csv")]), sep=";")

Filter file types and set a starting directory

path = file_choose(
    title="Pick your dataset",
    filetypes=[("CSV files", "*.csv"), ("All files", "*.*")],
    initialdir="~/Documents",
)

Pick several files at once

from pyfilechoose import files_choose

paths = files_choose(filetypes=[("Images", "*.png *.jpg")])
for p in paths:
    print(p)

API

file_choose(*, title="Select a file", filetypes=None, initialdir=None) -> str

Opens a dialog and returns the absolute path of the chosen file. Raises FileNotFoundError if the user cancels.

files_choose(*, title="Select one or more files", filetypes=None, initialdir=None) -> list[str]

Same as above but allows multiple selections; returns a list of absolute paths. Raises FileNotFoundError if nothing is selected.

Development

git clone https://github.com/Pinto-Katende-Jonathan/pyfilechoose.git
cd pyfilechoose

With uv, which creates and manages the virtualenv for you:

uv sync --extra dev   # set up the environment with dev dependencies
uv run pytest         # run the test suite

With pip:

python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate  # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

License

MIT © Jonathan Katende Pinto