Python: getting filename case as stored in Windows?

Question

Though Windows is case insensitive, it does preserve case in filenames. In Python, is there any way to get a filename with case as it is stored on the file system?

E.g., in a Python program I have filename = "texas.txt", but want to know that it's actually stored "TEXAS.txt" on the file system, even if this is inconsequential for various file operations.

(accidental duplicate accounts merged) – Marc Gravell Jan 22 '10 at 05:13 — Marc Gravell, Jan 22 '10 at 05:13

Sridhar Ratnakumar · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-22T18:22:17.157

10

Here's the simplest way to do it:

>>> import win32api
>>> win32api.GetLongPathName(win32api.GetShortPathName('texas.txt')))
'TEXAS.txt'

edited Jan 22 '10 at 18:22

answered Jan 22 '10 at 04:33

Sridhar Ratnakumar

81,433
63
146
187

1

Does `win32api.GetLongPathName(win32api.GetShortPathName('texas.txt'))` work? – Sridhar Ratnakumar Jan 22 '10 at 16:03
2

Yes, that works. Actually, to clarify, your original suggestion does work, but not if including a directory - e.g., `win32api.GetLongPathName('\\states\\texas.txt')` yields `'\\states\\TEXAS.txt'`, whereas `win32api.GetLongPathName(win32api.GetShortPathName('\\states\\texas.txt'))` correctly yields `'\\STATES\\TEXAS.txt'`. That had confused me, now I'm all set. Thanks! – diggums Jan 22 '10 at 16:34
I see. Then, I have modified my answer to call `win32api.GetShortPathName` as well. – Sridhar Ratnakumar Jan 22 '10 at 18:22
3

Great solution; to clarify: The puzzling inner `GetShortPathName()` call is needed, because `GetLongPathName()` does _not_ case-correct paths that are _already_ in long (non-8.3 format). In Python 3.x, the example works as-is even with non-ASCII filenames, but in 2.x you'll have to use Unicode strings explicitly and call `GetLongPathNameW()` (note the `W`) instead. If you have `pip`, you can install the `win32api` module (via the `pypiwin32` package) by running `pip install pypiwin32` – mklement0 Aug 13 '15 at 22:17
2

Note that this solution will *not* work if the file has no short filename (which can happen if short filename generation is disabled on the system or on the volume). Additionally, `GetLongPathName` will not correct the capitalization of the drive letter. – jamesdlin Jan 16 '16 at 20:48
This seems to fail in some cases, see https://github.com/thonny/thonny/issues/925 – Aivar Oct 02 '19 at 18:56

CrouZ · Answer 2 · 2011-10-01T21:04:55.727

6

I had problems with special characters with the win32api solution above. For unicode filenames you need to use:

win32api.GetLongPathNameW(win32api.GetShortPathName(path))

edited Oct 01 '11 at 21:04

answered Oct 01 '11 at 19:33

CrouZ

1,721
17
17

2

Good point (applies to Python 2.x - not needed on 3.x, which is natively Unicode). Just to be explicit: the input path (too) must be a Unicode string (e.g., `u'texas.txt'`). – mklement0 Aug 13 '15 at 21:48
See my comment to http://stackoverflow.com/a/2114975/179715 ; this isn't guaranteed to work if short filename generation is disabled. – jamesdlin Jan 16 '16 at 20:49

kxr · Answer 3 · 2020-01-03T13:55:56.750

4

This one is standard library only and converts all path parts (except drive letter):

def casedpath(path):
    r = glob.glob(re.sub(r'([^:/\\])(?=[/\\]|$)|\[', r'[\g<0>]', path))
    return r and r[0] or path

And this one handles UNC paths in addition:

def casedpath_unc(path):
    unc, p = os.path.splitunc(path)
    r = glob.glob(unc + re.sub(r'([^:/\\])(?=[/\\]|$)|\[', r'[\g<0>]', p))
    return r and r[0] or path

Note: It is somewhat slower than the file system dependent Win API "GetShortPathName" method, but works platform & file system independent and also when short filename generation is switched off on Windows volumes (fsutil.exe 8dot3name query C:). The latter is recommended at least for performance critical file systems when no 16bit apps rely anymore on that:

fsutil.exe behavior set disable8dot3 1

edited Jan 03 '20 at 13:55

answered Aug 25 '16 at 08:44

kxr

4,841
1
49
32

It's also necessary to protect square brackets in paths like `copy[12]`. I'm augmenting the answer using `glob.escape` if you don't mind – robyschek Jan 03 '20 at 02:21
@robyschek yes, however I embedded the protection directly into the sub, so that it also supports ending `[` 's (as in `oddfilename[` , `oddfilename]`) and Py 2.7 & <3.4 – kxr Jan 03 '20 at 14:00

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 21 '10 at 23:48

1

>>> import os
>>> os.listdir("./")
['FiLeNaMe.txt']

Does this answer your question?

answered Jan 21 '10 at 23:48

sberry

128,281
18
138
165

Chinmay Kanchi · Answer 5 · 2010-01-22T07:05:23.363

1

You could use:

import os
a = os.listdir('mydirpath')
b = [f.lower() for f in a]
try:
    i = b.index('texas.txt')
    print a[i]
except ValueError:
    print('File not found in this directory')

This of course assumes that your search string 'texas.txt' is in lowercase. If it isn't you'll have to convert it to lowercase first.

edited Jan 22 '10 at 07:05

answered Jan 21 '10 at 23:50

Chinmay Kanchi

62,729
22
87
114

2

`print ([f for f in os.listdir("mydirpath") if f.lower() == "texas.txt"]+["file not found"])[0]` – Jan 22 '10 at 00:03
@Roger: Haha, great stuff! I'm still getting to grips with the power of list comprehensions. I tend not to post one-liners for answers though, since they can often be more confusing than illuminating :). – Chinmay Kanchi Jan 22 '10 at 00:06
Just a note: No need to use string.lower() anymore. – ghostdog74 Jan 22 '10 at 00:48
The `except` block functionally does nothing -- thus ignoring errors silently. – Sridhar Ratnakumar Jan 22 '10 at 04:25
@Chinmay: look closely at the statements in your `except` block (i.e, the last line of your program). It does **nothing**. – Sridhar Ratnakumar Jan 22 '10 at 05:28

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 22 '10 at 00:48

1

and if you want to recurse directories

import os
path=os.path.join("c:\\","path")
for r,d,f in os.walk(path):
    for file in f:
        if file.lower() == "texas.txt":
              print "Found: ",os.path.join( r , file )

answered Jan 22 '10 at 00:48

ghostdog74

327,991
56
259
343

Python: getting filename case as stored in Windows?

6 Answers6

Linked