Python – Check if Path is File or Directory

Check if Given Path is File or Directory

When you get a string value for a path, you can check if the path represents a file or a directory using Python programming.

To check if the path you have is a file or directory, import os module and use isfile() method to check if it is a file, and isdir() method to check if it is a directory.

In this tutorial, we shall learn how to check if a given path is file or folder, with the help of well detailed examples.

Sample Code

Following is a quick sample code snippet that demonstrates the usage of isfile() and isdir() functions.

import os

# Checks if path is a file
isFile = os.path.isfile(fpath)

# Checks if path is a directory
isDirectory = os.path.isdir(fpath)

Both the functions return a boolean value if the specified file path is a file or not; or directory or not.

Examples

1. Check if the given path is a File

In this example, consider that we have a file specified by the variable fpath. We will use isfile() method to check if we can find out if it is a file or not.

Python Program

import os

fpath = 'D:/workspace/python/samplefile.txt'
isFile = os.path.isfile(fpath)
print('The file present at the path is a regular file:', isFile)

Output

The file present at the path is a regular file: True

Now let us try with a path, that is a folder, passed as argument to isfile().

Python Program

import os

fpath = 'D:/workspace/python/'
isFile = os.path.isfile(fpath)
print('The file present at the path is a regular file:', isFile)

Output

The file present at the path is a regular file: False

That’s good. We are able to recognize if the specified path is a file or not.

2. Check if given path is a Directory

In the following example, consider that we have a folder or directory specified by the variable fpath. We will use isdir() method to check if we can find out if it is a file.

Python Program

import os

fpath = 'D:/workspace/python/'
isDirectory = os.path.isdir(fpath)
print('Path points to a Directory:', isDirectory)

Output

Path points to a Directory: True

Now let us try with a path, that is a file, passed as argument to isdir().

Python Program

import os

fpath = 'D:/workspace/python/samplefile.txt'
isDirectory = os.path.isdir(fpath)
print('Path points to a Directory:', isDirectory)

Output

Path points to a Directory: False

Again that’s good. It recognized if the path provided is a directory or not.

Summary

In this tutorial of Python Examples, we learned how to check if a given path is file or directory in Python, using isfile() and isdir(), with the help of well detailed examples.