48

Actually need to go some path and execute some command and below is the code

code:

import os
present_working_directory = '/home/Desktop/folder'

presently i am in folder

if some_condition == true :
    change_path = "nodes/hellofolder"
    os.chdir(change_path)
    print os.getcwd()
if another_condition  == true:
    change_another_path = "nodes" 
    os.chdir(change_another_path) 
    print os.getcwd()

**Result**:
'/home/Desktop/folder/nodes/hellofolder'
python: [Errno 1] No such file or directory

Actually whats happening here is when i first used os.chdir() the directory has changed to

'/home/Desktop/folder/nodes/hellofolder',

but for the second one i need to run a file by moving to one folder back that is 

'/home/Desktop/folder/nodes'

So can anyone let me how to move one folder back in python

Shiva Krishna Bavandla
  • 25,548
  • 75
  • 193
  • 313
  • 2
    Avoid `os.chdir` if you can. The `subprocess` module's functions take the working directory as an argument. (Also, `true` should be `True` and `== True` is never necessary.) – Fred Foo Sep 05 '12 at 11:28
  • 1
    @Kour ipm, as larsmans said, do what you need to do using subprocess, it has the keyword cwd. So call what you need using: subprocess.call("yourCommand", shell=True, cwd="path/to/directory") – oz123 Sep 05 '12 at 12:11

8 Answers8

62

Just like you would in the shell.

os.chdir("../nodes")
Alex
  • 9,313
  • 1
  • 39
  • 44
53

Here is a very platform independent way to do it. 

In [1]: os.getcwd()
Out[1]: '/Users/user/Dropbox/temp'

In [2]: os.path.normpath(os.getcwd() + os.sep + os.pardir)
Out[2]: '/Users/user/Dropbox/'

Then you have the path, and you can chdir or whatever with it.

chimpsarehungry
  • 1,775
  • 2
  • 17
  • 28
32

Just call

os.chdir('..')

the same as in any other language :)

moopet
  • 6,014
  • 1
  • 29
  • 36
6

Exact answer for your question is os.chdir('../')

Use case:

Folder1:
    sub-folder1:(you want to navigate here)
Folder2:
    sub-folde2:(you are here)

To navigate to sub-folder1 from sub-folder2, you need to write like this "../Folder1/sub-folder1/"

then, put it in os.chdir("../Folder1/sub-folder1/").

Bandham Manikanta
  • 1,858
  • 21
  • 21
2

think about using absolute paths

import os
pwd = '/home/Desktop/folder'

if some_condition == true :
    path = os.path.join(pwd, "nodes/hellofolder")
    os.chdir(path)
    print os.getcwd()
if another_condition  == true:
    path = os.path.join(pwd, "nodes")
    os.chdir(path) 
    print os.getcwd()
Christian Thieme
  • 1,114
  • 6
  • 6
1

My problem was fixed with this command first import os and after add os.path.normpath(os.path.abspath(__file__) + os.sep + os.pardir)

Omid Ostovari
  • 342
  • 2
  • 9
1

The answers mentioned above are correct. The following is more a It usually happens when your Python script is in a nested directory and you want to go one level up from the current working directory to maybe let's say load a file.

The idea is to simply reformat the path string and prefix it with a '../'. So an example would be.

'../current_directory/' + filename

This format is similar to when used in a terminal. Whenever in doubt fire up a terminal and experiment with some commands. The format is reflected in the programming language.

simpleParadox
  • 71
  • 5
0

Define this function in your script and call it whenever you want to go back just by one folder:

import os

def dirback():
    m = os.getcwd()
    n = m.rfind("\\")
    d = m[0: n+1]
    os.chdir(d)
    return None
Amirhoseyn
  • 1
  • 1