Input multiple files in python using * via the command line

Question

I am trying to create a python script that can receive multiple files as input through a command line.

Right now I am working with a method of using one file as input:

I would presently call the function using: python function_name.py input_file.txt

Using code that looks like this:

import sys
def function_name(): 
    input = sys.argv[1]
    with open(input,'r') as afile:
        read_data = afile.read()
if __name__ == '__main__':
    function_name()

But how can I use all of the .txt files in the current directory as input?

i.e.: python function_name.py *.txt OR: python function_name.py ./*/*.txt

I would like to perform the same actions on each input file.

AMADANON Inc. · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-15 02:08:13Z

sys.argv is a list of arguments passed to the script. The first will be the name of the script (scriptname.py), and the rest will be whatever you type after it.

If you run python function_name.py *.txt, this will be expanded by the shell, to python function_name.py 1.txt 2.txt blah.txt wibble.com.exe.extension.txt (or whatever filenames you have in this directory.

So, I would do something like this:

 def function_name(): 
      for filename in sys.argv[1:]:
          print "You specified %s on the commandline - do something with it here!" % filename

The [1:] part means, ignore any parameters before index 1 (i.e. start at the second), or you will be processing your python script!

As a rule of thumb, I would probably pass this as a parameter to the function, so:

import sys
def function_name(filestoprocess): 
    for input in filestoprocess:
        print "Processing %s" % input
        with open(input,'r') as afile:
            read_data = afile.read()
if __name__ == '__main__':
    function_name(sys.argv[1:])

rtpg · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-15 02:04:03Z

1

You might want to check out the glob module. You could feed your command line into glob.glob, and it will give you a list of files matching the wildcards you sent in. Then you can work on them as you see fit

answered Jan 15, 2015 at 2:04

rtpg

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