Path manipulation in python

Question

I have looked on Stack Overflow everywhere but I cant find a solution to this problem.

Given that I have a folder/file as string: "/path1/path2/path3/file" how can I get the parent folder and its parent folder. In other words if I want to traverse up one level "/path1/path2/path3" or two levels "/path1/path2" how can I get those string values from the original string path in python?

Please note that I don't simply want the pieces of the path (in other words not a list of ['path1', 'path2', 'path3']) but instead "/path1/path2/path3".

• RedX: Possible duplicate of How to split a dos path into its components in Python
• zipa: os.path.realpath(__file__) will give you string that contains path to your file, and then just apply string manipulation to shorten it.
• Bakuriu: os.path.dirname? and apply it n times to go up n levels...
• S. de Melo: No, "this is not what [he] asked for". Lol...

Answer 1

os.path.dirname() (doc) is the way to go. It returns the directory which contains the object pointed by the path:

>>> import os.path
>>> os.path.dirname('/path1/path2/path3/file')
'/path1/path2/path3'

In this case, you want the "grandparent" directory, so just use the function twice:

>>> parent = os.path.dirname('/path1/path2/path3/file')
>>> os.path.dirname(parent)
'/path1/path2'

If you want to do it an arbitrary number of times, a function can be helpful here:

def go_up(path, n):
 for i in range(n):
 path = os.path.dirname(path)
 return path

Here are some examples:

>>> go_up('/path1/path2/path3/file', 1)
'/path1/path2/path3'
>>> go_up('/path1/path2/path3/file', 2)
'/path1/path2'
>>> go_up('/path1/path2/path3/file', 3)
'/path1'

Answer 2

You can use the pathlib module:

>>> path = pathlib.PurePath('/file1/file2/file3/file')
>>> path.parts
('/', 'file1', 'file2', 'file3', 'file')
>>> os.path.join(*path.parts[:-2])
'/file1/file2'

So just put path.parts[:-n] for n levels up.

Alternatively you can use the parents attribute:

>>> path = pathlib.PurePath('/file1/file2/file3/file4/file5/file6')
>>> path.parents[0]
PurePosixPath('/file1/file2/file3/file4/file5')
>>> path.parents[1]
PurePosixPath('/file1/file2/file3/file4')
>>> path.parents[4]
PurePosixPath('/file1')

So to go up n levels just use parents[n-1].

To convert a *Path object to a string just call str on it:

>>> str(path)
'/file1/file2/file3/file4/file5/file6'

Answer 3

additionally to all other answers, you can also use os.path.join function with the os.path.pardir variable which usually equals ...

>>> path = "some/random/path/to/process"
>>> parent = os.path.pardir
>>> grand_parent_path = os.path.join(path, parent, parent)
>>> grand_parent_path
'some/random/path/to/process\\..\\..'

If you don't want to repeat parent several times, you can use a multipled list:

>>> os.path.join(path, *([parent] * 3))
'some/random/path/to/process\\..\\..\\..'

The result is quite ugly, so you can use the os.path.normpath function to make it prettier:

>>> os.path.normpath(os.path.join(path, *([parent] * 3)))
'some\\random'

Important note: Doing so, you are sure your code is portable

Answer 4

os.path.split will do it for you. There are many other interesting functions in there.

• RFV: Split the pathname path into a pair, (head, tail) where tail is the last pathname component and head is everything leading up to that. How can I traverve two or 3 levels up?
• RedX: @RFVenter Call the function multiple times on the result?

Answer 5

os.path.dirname gives you the parent directory.

• RFV: This is not what I asked for.
• S. de Melo: Yes it is what you asked for. >>> os.path.dirname("/path1/path2/path3/file") '/path1/path2/path3'
• Jacques de Hooge: Citing the question: 'or two levels'
• S. de Melo: 2 levels: os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname("/path1/path2/path3/file")) ...
• S. de Melo: Write a function that takes a path and a level and applies level times os.path.dirname on the path?

Answer 6

'/'.join (originalPath.split ('/') [:-2])

It will take you 2 levels up.

• brandizzi: This may fail, for example, if the path is a Windows path using `` as separator.
• Jacques de Hooge: Yes, but the question was about a Linux path. By the way, as a habit I always convert paths to Linux paths. But admitted, os.path is the generally accepted toolbox for the job. I like a small toolbox, though, sometimes I can't find the hammer anymore...
• S. de Melo: It can be resolved by replacing '/' by os.path.sep
• RFV: @JacquesdeHooge I agree, the string is specific and your answer is nice, obvious (duh) and concise. Thank you