Python – Check if File Exists

Check if File Exists

To check if a file exists in Python, we can import os package and use os.path.isfile() function of the os package.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to check if a file at given path exists or not, using Python programming.

First we shall look into the syntax of os.path.isfile() function. Secondly, we shall look into examples, where we check if a file exists.

Syntax

The syntax of os.path.isfile() function is:

os.path.isfile(path)

os.path.isfile() returns a boolean value of True if the given path is an existing regular file. Or else, it returns False.

Example

In the following Python program, we shall check if the file at path /Users/tutorialkart/Downloads/sample.txt is present or not.

example.py

import os

path = '/Users/tutorialkart/Downloads/sample.txt'

if ( os.path.isfile(path) ):
    print('file with given path exists')
else:
    print('file with given path does not exist')

If the file with given path is present, then we get the following output.

Output

file with given path exists

If the file with given path is not present, then we get the following output.

Output

file with given path does not exist

Conclusion

In this Python Tutorial, we learned how to check if a file defined by given path is present or not, using os.path.isfile() function.