Too much code - slicing

Thu Sep 16 15:35:46 EDT 2010

I need to create a simple utility to remove characters from either the
right or left side of directories.
This works, but there has to be a better way. I tried to use a
variable inside the brackets but I can't get
that to work. Can anyone think of a way to do this with less code?
Thanks!
import os
dirs = filter(os.path.isdir, os.listdir(''))
for dir in dirs:
 # Left side
 if num == '1' and side == "l":
 code = dir[1:]
 if num == '2' and side == "l":
 code = dir[2:]
 if num == '3' and side == "l":
 code = dir[3:]
 if num == '4' and side == "l":
 code = dir[4:]
 if num == '5' and side == "l":
 code = dir[5:]
 if num == '6' and side == "l":
 code = dir[6:]
 if num == '7' and side == "l":
 code = dir[7:]
 if num == '8' and side == "l":
 code = dir[8:]
 if num == '9' and side == "l":
 code = dir[9:]
 if num == '10' and side == "l":
 code = dir[10:]
 # Right side
 if num == '1' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-1]
 if num == '2' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-2]
 if num == '3' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-3]
 if num == '4' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-4]
 if num == '5' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-5]
 if num == '6' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-6]
 if num == '7' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-7]
 if num == '8' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-8]
 if num == '9' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-9]
 if num == '10' and side == "r":
 code = dir[:-10]
 print " Renaming "+dir+" to "+code
 os.rename(dir, code)