How to use Windows File Explorer to select and return a directory using Python?

Question

I have a script that takes files off of remote network nodes and saves them to a remote drive. Right now, my scripts require a hard coded destination for its location, for example:

dest_path_cfg = f"G:\\path\\to\\my\\folder"

I would like to update this script so that a user running it could select the folder that they wanted to use to save files via File Explorer. I've seen how I can use:

import subprocess
subprocess.Popen(r'explorer /select,"C:\path\of\folder\file"')

to open a file explorer window to a given directory, but I'm not sure how to use subprocess to allow a user's selection to be returned to the python script so that it can be acted on later.

Right now I'm only looking at Windows compatibility, but I would like to add Mac/Linux flexibility in the future.

Simimic · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-16 21:50:56Z

8

You can use Python's Tkinter module, which contains the function filedialog.askdirectory(). This will open the standard Windows folder selection dialog.

import tkinter
from tkinter import filedialog

tkinter.Tk().withdraw() # prevents an empty tkinter window from appearing

folder_path = filedialog.askdirectory()

Tkinter Dialogs documentation

edited Mar 16, 2021 at 21:50

answered Mar 16, 2021 at 21:29

Simimic

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3 Comments

Delrius Euphoria Over a year ago

You can also simplify this and write tkinter.Tk().withdraw().

GrandMasterD Over a year ago

I've tried both of these methods and I'm not seeing the file explorer window populate. My screen briefly flashes and then my code hangs up. Not sure why the file explorer isn't displaying. I'd assume that if the window is populating correctly, then it would wait for me to select a folder and hit 'ok' before trying to proceed, right?

GrandMasterD Over a year ago

After some tweaking, I was able to get it working. Thank you! Much appreciated!

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