Recursively iterate through all subdirectories using pathlib

Question

How can I use pathlib to recursively iterate over all subdirectories of a given directory?

p = Path('docs')
for child in p.iterdir(): child

only seems to iterate over the immediate children of a given directory.

I know this is possible with os.walk() or glob, but I want to use pathlib because I like working with the path objects.

Solution 1

You can use the glob method of a Path object:

p = Path('docs')
for i in p.glob('**/*'):
     print(i.name)

Solution 2

Use Path.rglob (substitutes the leading ** in Path().glob("**/*")):

path = Path("docs")
for p in path.rglob("*"):
     print(p.name)

Solution 3

pathlib has glob method where we can provide pattern as an argument.

For example : Path('abc').glob('**/*.txt') - It will look for current folder abc and all other subdirectories recursively to locate all txt files.

Solution 4

To find just folders the right glob string is:

'**/'

So to find all the paths for all the folders in your path do this:

p = Path('docs')
for child in p.glob('**/'):
    print(child)

If you just want the folder names without the paths then print the name of the folder like so:

p = Path('docs')
for child in p.glob('**/'):
    print(child.name)

Solution 5

Use list comprehensions:

(1) [f.name for f in p.glob("**/*")]  # or
(2) [f.name for f in p.rglob("*")]

You can add if f.is_file() or if f.is_dir() to (1) or (2) if you want to target files only or directories only, respectively. Or replace "*" with some pattern like "*.txt" if you want to target .txt files only.

See this quick guide.

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