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.
All functions in os 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.makedirs() method in Python is used to create a directory recursively. That means while making leaf directory if any intermediate-level directory is missing, os.makedirs() method will create them all.
For example consider the following path:
/home/User/Documents/GeeksForGeeks/Authors/ihritik
Suppose we want to create directory ‘ihritik’ but Directory ‘GeeksForGeeks’ and ‘Authors’ are unavailable in the path. Then os.makedirs() method will create all unavailable/missing directory in the specified path. ‘GeeksForGeeks’ and ‘Authors’ will be created first then ‘ihritik’ directory will be created.
Syntax: os.makedirs(path, mode = 0o777, exist_ok = False)
Parameter:
path: A path-like object representing a file system path. A path-like object is either a string or bytes object representing a path.
mode (optional) : A Integer value representing mode of the newly created directory..If this parameter is omitted then the default value Oo777 is used.
exist_ok (optional) : A default value False is used for this parameter. If the target directory already exists an OSError is raised if its value is False otherwise not. For value True leaves directory unaltered.
Return Type: This method does not return any value.
Code #1: Use of os.makedirs() method to create directory
Python3
# Python program to explain os.makedirs() method # importing os module import os # Leaf directory directory = "ihritik" # Parent Directories parent_dir = "/home/User/Documents/GeeksForGeeks/Authors" # Path path = os.path.join(parent_dir, directory) # Create the directory # 'ihritik' os.makedirs(path) print ( "Directory '%s' created" % directory) # Directory 'GeeksForGeeks' and 'Authors' will # be created too # if it does not exists # Leaf directory directory = "c" # Parent Directories parent_dir = "/home/User/Documents/Lazyroar/a/b" # mode mode = 0o666 path = os.path.join(parent_dir, directory) # Create the directory # 'c' os.makedirs(path, mode) print ( "Directory '%s' created" % directory) # 'GeeksForGeeks', 'a', and 'b' # will also be created if # it does not exists # If any of the intermediate level # directory is missing # os.makedirs() method will # create them # os.makedirs() method can be # used to create a directory tree |
Output:
Directory 'ihritik' created Directory 'c' created
Code #2: Errors while using os.makedirs() method
Python3
# Python program to explain os.makedirs() method # importing os module import os # os.makedirs() method will raise # an OSError if the directory # to be created already exists # Directory directory = "ihritik" # Parent Directory path parent_dir = "/home/User/Documents/GeeksForGeeks" # Path path = os.path.join(parent_dir, directory) # Create the directory # 'ihritik' os.makedirs(path) print ( "Directory '%s' created" % directory) |
Output:
Traceback (most recent call last): File "makedirs.py", line 21, in os.makedirs(path) File "/usr/lib/python3.6/os.py", line 220, in makedirs mkdir(name, mode) FileExistsError: [Errno 17] File exists: '/home/User/Documents/GeeksForGeeks/ihritik'
Code #3: Handling errors while using os.makedirs() method
Python3
# Python program to explain os.makedirs() method # importing os module import os # os.makedirs() method will raise # an OSError if the directory # to be created already exists # But It can be suppressed by # setting the value of a parameter # exist_ok as True # Directory directory = "ihritik" # Parent Directory path parent_dir = "/home/ihritik/Desktop/GeeksForGeeks" # Path path = os.path.join(parent_dir, directory) # Create the directory # 'ihritik' try : os.makedirs(path, exist_ok = True ) print ( "Directory '%s' created successfully" % directory) except OSError as error: print ( "Directory '%s' can not be created" ) # By setting exist_ok as True # error caused due already # existing directory can be suppressed # but other OSError may be raised # due to other error like # invalid path name |
Output:
Directory 'ihritik' created successfully
Reference: https://docs.python.org/3/library/os.html