Count the number of files in a directory using python

Question

I need to count the number of files in a directory using Python. I guess the easiest way is len(glob.glob('*')), but I also count the directory as file.

Is there any way to count only the files in a directory?

Answer 1

os.listdir() will be slightly more efficient than using glob.glob. To test if a filename is an ordinary file (and not a directory or other entity), use os.path.isfile():

import os, os.path

print len([name for name in os.listdir('.') if os.path.isfile(name)])

Answer 2

import os
number_of_files = len([item for item in os.listdir(directory) if os.path.isfile(item)])

joaquin

Answer 3

def count_em(valid_path):
   x = 0
   for root, dirs, files in os.walk(valid_path):
       for f in files:
            x = x+1
print "There are", x, "files in this directory."
return x

Taked from this post

Answer 4

import os

def count_files(in_directory):
    joiner= (in_directory + os.path.sep).__add__
    return sum(
        os.path.isfile(filename)
        for filename
        in map(joiner, os.listdir(in_directory))
    )

>>> count_files("/usr/lib")
1797
>>> len(os.listdir("/usr/lib"))
2049