How to index all the files in a USB drive using Python?

Question

I want to index all the USB files in a dictionary with the path to them and the name of the file. I know I'll have to use recursion to analyse all the nested folders. I'm just not sure how to list those files, and access the USB drive. I looked around and found how to write to a USB but not how to list all the files in it. Thanks in advance.

do you have the option of executing a command from a python script to see the files? You could use the subprocess module and have it run find . from the USB drive itself then write this list to a file. Let me know if you'd like details on that. — JacobIRR
– JacobIRR, Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 18:47
Yes I have that option. Could you write a answer explaining how to use the module to do that? — Mikael
– Mikael, Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 18:51
If you want to use python, you could also try using the glob package which allows for unix style glob expressions and can return an iterable. — Petergavinkin
– Petergavinkin, Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 18:56

JacobIRR · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-11 18:55:59Z

1

Sure, you can use a script like this (filling in your own path to the USB):

import subprocess


def main():
    cmd = 'find /Path/To/Your/USB/Here'
    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True)
    print p.communicate()[0]


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Now to run this, e.g. in unix/mac:

$ python nameOfThisPythonScript.py  > somefile.txt

Then you should see the contents of the USB listed in somefile.txt.

answered Apr 11, 2017 at 18:55

JacobIRR

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2 Comments

Mikael Over a year ago

I'm using a Windows machine at the moment, and I can't test it, but would changing the cmd to cmd = 'touch file_list.txt && find /path/to/your/usb/here > file_list.txt do that directly inside of the code?

JacobIRR Over a year ago

Yes you can do that.

Icarus · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-11 21:28:18Z

0

You can use this script with your usb path

import os
f=open('path to the list file',"w")
for root, dirs, files in os.walk('path to usb'):
    for dir in dirs:
        for file in files:
            f.write(os.path.join(root, file) + '\n')
f.close()

edited Apr 11, 2017 at 21:28

Icarus

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answered Apr 11, 2017 at 19:37

user7772452

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