OS Unit in Python
Gaurav Kr. suman MIT13
The 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. The *os* and
*os.path* modules include many functions to interact with the file system.
Following are some functions in OS module:
This function gives the name of the operating system dependent
module imported. The following names have currently been registered: ‘posix’, ‘nt’,
‘os2’, ‘ce’, ‘java’ and ‘riscos’
import os
print(os.name)
Output:
posix
Note: It may give different output on different interpreters, such as ‘posix’ when you
run the code here.
Function os.getcwd(), returns the Current Working
Directory(CWD) of the file used to execute the code, can vary from system to
system.
import os
print(os.getcwd())
# To print absolute path on your system
# os.path.abspath('.')
# To print files and directories in the current directory
# on your system
# os.listdir('.')
Output:
C:\Users\GKS\Desktop\ModuleOS
Note: In case of GKG interpreter, directory used is \root.
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All functions in this module raise OSError in the case of invalid or
inaccessible file names and paths, or other arguments that have the correct type, but
are not accepted by the operating system. os.error is an alias for built-in OSError
exception.
import os
try:
# If the file does not exist,
# then it would throw an IOError
filename = 'GKS.txt'
f = open(filename, 'rU')
text = f.read()
f.close()
# Control jumps directly to here if
#any of the above lines throws IOError.
except IOError:
# print(os.error) will <class 'OSError'>
print('Problem reading: ' + filename)
# In any case, the code then continues with
# the line after the try/except
Output:
Problem reading: GKS.txt
This method opens a pipe to or from command. The return value
can be read or written depending on whether mode is ‘r’ or ‘w’.
Syntax:
os.popen(command[, mode[, bufsize]])
Parameters mode & bufsize are not necessary parameters, if not provided, default ‘r’
is taken for mode.
import os
fd = "GFG.txt"
# popen() is similar to open()
file = open(fd, 'w')
file.write("Hello")
file.close()
file = open(fd, 'r')
text = file.read()
print(text)
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# popen() provides a pipe/gateway and accesses the file directly
file = os.popen(fd, 'w')
file.write("Hello")
# File not closed, shown in next function.
Output:
Hello
Note: Output for popen() will not be shown, there would be direct changes into the
file.
Close file descriptor fd. A file opened using open(), can be closed by
close()only. But file opened through os.popen(), can be closed with close() or
os.close(). If we try closing a file opened with open(), using os.close(), Python would
throw TypeError.
import os
fd = "GFG.txt"
file = open(fd, 'r')
text = file.read()
print(text)
os.close(file)
Output:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\GFG\Desktop\gauravOSFile.py", line 6, in
os.close(file)
TypeError: an integer is required (got type _io.TextIOWrapper)
Note: The same error may not be thrown, due to non-existent of file or permission
privilege.
A file old.txt can be renamed to new.txt, using the function
os.rename(). The name of the file changes only if, the file exists and user has
sufficient privilege permission to change the file.
import os
fd = "GFG.txt"
os.rename(fd,'New.txt')
os.rename(fd,'New.txt')
Output:
Traceback (most recent call last):
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File "C:\Users\GFG\Desktop\ModuleOS\gauravOSFile.py", line 3, in
os.rename(fd,'New.txt')
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the
file specified: 'GFG.txt' -> 'New.txt'
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