how to check if folder exist and create folder using python

Question

How to check if folder exist and create it if it doesn't?

import os
from datetime import datetime

file_path = "F:/TEST--"
if os.path.exists(file_path):
    os.rmdir(file_path)
    os.makedirs(file_path + datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d'))
else:
    os.makedirs(file_path + datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d'))

Answer 1

os.path.exists(file_path) check if the folder TEST-- exists, not if TEST--date exists, so os.rmdir(file_path) is never called. Set the folder name before the if

file_path = 'F:/TEST--' + datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
if os.path.exists(file_path):
    os.rmdir(file_path)
os.makedirs(file_path)

If the folder contain files you need to delete the first or use shutil package

shutil.rmtree(file_path)

Answer 2

You can use exist_ok parameter set to True.then if folder exists.python will do nothing.

import os
from datetime import datetime
file_path = "F:/TEST--"
if os.path.exists(file_path):
    os.rmdir(file_path)

os.makedirs(file_path + datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d'),exist_ok=True)

Answer 3

On Python >= 3.5, you can use pathlib.Path.mkdir . Note the exist_ok=True parameter.

from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime

file_path = 'F:/TEST--' + datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
Path(file_path).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

Using Pathlib makes your code OS independent and will not break if you decide to move to another OS later on.

PS: It is also advisable to avoid hardcoded paths in your code like F:/TEST--