How to create a directory in Python?

How can I use Python to create a particular directory?

For example: 

app/
   main.py

How could I do to create a directory called temp inside app through Python main.py?

Author: Wallace Maxters, 2016-12-09
Source

5 answers

Answer using Python 3.*

Is it possible to use os.makedirs or os.mkdir.

os.makedirs

Creates all directories specified in the parameter, recursively.
Ex.: os.makedir('./temp/2016/12/09') will create the folders temp, 2016, 12 e 09.

os.mkdir

Only creates the last directory. If the previous directories do not exist will cause an error.
Ex.: os.mkdir('./temp/2016/12/09') - will only create the directory 09 and only if the previous ones exist, otherwise it will cause the following error

FileNotFoundError: [WinError 3] the system cannot find the path specified:'./1/2/3/4'

Example: 

import os

dir = './temp'       
os.makedirs(dir)
# ou 
os.mkdir(dir)
 11
Author: LINQ, 2020-06-11 14:45:34

There is more than one function for this:

  • os.path.mkdir creates a folder (os.mkdir if it is Python3)
  • os.makedirs creates folder(s) recursively

The file main.py is inside ./app so you can just use: 

os.path.mkdir('./temp') #Python 2
os.mkdir('./temp') #Python 3

If you want to create subfolders based on date (this helps to "browse" faster later): 

os.makedirs('./temp/2016/12/9')
 8
Author: Guilherme Nascimento, 2016-12-09 19:24:22

The most correct way to avoid running condition would be: 

import os

try:
    os.makedirs("./temp")
except OSError:
    #faz o que acha que deve se não for possível criar

I put on GitHub for future reference.

 6
Author: Maniero, 2020-03-26 15:21:07

Although the previous answers are correct, as of Python 3.4 give preference to using pathlib. The reasons are explained in the documentation and in the PEP 428.

Example: Little of the functionality from os.path is reused. Many bones.path functions are tied by backwards compatibility to confusing or plain wrong behavior (for example, the fact that os.path.abspath () simplifies'.."path components without resolving symlinks first).

With pathlib, the solution to the question looks like this: 

from pathlib import Path

Path('./temp').mkdir(exist_ok=True)

exist_ok causes exceptions FileExistsError to be ignored.

You can also use the / operator for the join of directories. For example: 

(Path('.') / 'temp' / 'subdir1' / 'sub2').mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

In this case it was necessary to add the option parents so that the entire directory chain could be created. Otherwise, the following error is thrown: FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'temp/subdir1/sub2'

 0
Author: Rodrigo Nogueira, 2020-03-30 20:21:33

Eventually you may be interested in creating from the folder'./ temp' even if it already exists in this case you can do like this: 

import os

dirTemp = './temp'

try:
    os.mkdir(dirTemp)
except OSError:
    os.rmdir(dirTemp)
    os.mkdir(dirTemp)

Avoid using 'dir' as variable name because 'dir' is a Python function

 -4
Author: Antonio Peixoto, 2018-05-02 21:52:59