finding a file name from a substring

Question

I have a list of my filenames that I've saved as follows:

filelist = os.listdir(mypath)

Now, suppose one of my files is something like "KRAS_P01446_3GFT_SOMETHING_SOMETHING.txt".

However, all I know ahead of time is that I have a file called "KRAS_P01446_3GFT_*". How can I get the full file name from file list using just "KRAS_P01446_3GFT_*"?

As a simpler example, I've made the following:

mylist = ["hi_there", "bye_there","hello_there"]

Suppose I had the string "hi". How would I make it return mylist[0] = "hi_there".

Thanks!

kojiro · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-19 21:39:49Z

2

In the first example, you could just use the glob module:

import glob
import os
print '\n'.join(glob.iglob(os.path.join(mypath, "KRAS_P01446_3GFT_*")))

Do this instead of os.listdir.

The second example seems tenuously related to the first (X-Y problem?), but here's an implementation:

mylist = ["hi_there", "bye_there","hello_there"]
print '\n'.join(s for s in mylist if s.startswith("hi"))

edited Jul 19, 2012 at 21:39

answered Jul 19, 2012 at 21:21

kojiro

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Comments

Tim Lesher · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-19 21:20:49Z

0

If you mean "give me all filenames starting with some prefix", then this is simple:

[fname for fname in mylist if fname.startswith('hi')]

If you mean something more complex--for example, patterns like "some_*_file" matching "some_good_file" and "some_bad_file", then look at the regex module.

answered Jul 19, 2012 at 21:20

Tim Lesher

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Mark Ransom · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-19 21:21:11Z

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mylist = ["hi_there", "bye_there","hello_there"]
partial = "hi"
[fullname for fullname in mylist if fullname.startswith(partial)]

answered Jul 19, 2012 at 21:21

Mark Ransom

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Akshet · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-19 21:30:42Z

0

If the list is not very big, you can do a per item check like this.

def findMatchingFile (fileList, stringToMatch) :
    listOfMatchingFiles = []

    for file in fileList:
        if file.startswith(stringToMatch):
            listOfMatchingFiles.append(file)

    return listOfMatchingFiles

There are more "pythonic" way of doing this, but I prefer this as it is more readable.

answered Jul 19, 2012 at 21:30

Akshet

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1 Comment

Akshet Over a year ago

May be, may be not. Depends on, if the person asking knows what a generator is and how yield works. By my experience that is something few people know.

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