Python add path of data directory

Question

I want to add a path to my data directory in python, so that I can read/write files from that directory without including the path to it all the time.

For example I have my working directory at /user/working where I am currently working in the file /user/working/foo.py. I also have all of my data in the directory /user/data where I want to excess the file /user/data/important_data.csv.

In foo.py, I could now just read the csv with pandas using

import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('../data/important_data.csv')

which totally works. I just want to know if there is a way to include /user/data as a main path for the file so I can just read the file with

import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('important_data.csv')

The only idea I had was adding the path via sys.path.append('/user/data'), which didnt work (I guess it only works for importing modules).

Is anyone able to provide any ideas if this is possible?

PS: My real problem is of course more complex, but this minimal example should be enough to handle my problem.

Yash · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-16 17:23:39Z

1

It looks like you can use os.chdir for this purpose.

import os

os.chdir('/user/data')

See https://note.nkmk.me/en/python-os-getcwd-chdir/ for more details.

answered Dec 16, 2022 at 17:23

Yash

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4 Comments

JD. Over a year ago

But I can only have one path as cwd right?

Yash Over a year ago

Yes. But one thing you might be able to do is set up a symbolic link to one of the folders inside the other folder; see: linuxhint.com/symlink-a-directory-in-linux (if you're on Mac/Linux)

JD. Over a year ago

That's the answer I was looking for. Using os.symlink('/user/data/', 'data'), I can achieve what I was looking for. Thank you! (Maybe add the os.symlink to your answer)

topsail Over a year ago

For completeness, also can be done in Windows: computerhope.com/mklink.htm

leonious · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-20 16:21:37Z

1

If you are keeping everything in /user/data, why not use f-strings to make this easy? You could assign the directory to a variable in a config and then use it in the string like so:

In a config somewhere:

data_path = "/user/data"

Reading later...

df = pd.read_csv(f"{data_path}/important_data.csv")

edited Dec 20, 2022 at 16:21

answered Dec 16, 2022 at 16:35

leonious

565 bronze badges

1 Comment

JD. Over a year ago

This works of course, but thats not exactly what I am looking for. I really want the second code block to work. But thanks for the creative input.

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