Python check if a directory exists, then create it if necessary and save graph to new directory?

Question

so I want this to be independent of the computer the code is used on, so I want to be able to create a directory in the current directory and save my plots to that new file. I looked at some other questions and tried this (I have two attempts, one commented out):

    import os
    from os import path
    #trying to make shift_graphs directory if it does not already exist:

    if not os.path.exists('shift_graphs'):
        os.mkdirs('shift_graphs')

    plt.title('Shift by position on '+str(detector_num)+'-Detector')
    #saving figure to shift_graphs directory
    plt.savefig(os.path.join('shift_graphs','shift by position on '+str(detector_num)+'-detector'))
    print "plot 5 done"
    plt.clf

I get the error :

AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'mkdirs'

I also want to know if my idea of saving it in the directory will work, which I haven't been able to test because of the errors I've been getting in the above portion.

There's `os.mkdir`, and `os.makedirs`. There's no `os.mkdirs`. (As the error message already explained to you.) — Sneftel, Jun 23 '15 at 16:43
I use `if not os.path.exists(new_path):` \ `os.makedirs(new_path)` — mikey, Feb 02 '21 at 22:23

score 25 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 23 '15 at 17:30

25

os.mkdirs() is not a method in os module. if you are making only one direcory then use os.mkdir() and if there are multiple directories try using os.makedirs() Check Documentation

edited Jun 23 '15 at 17:30

kindall

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answered Jun 23 '15 at 16:45

shaktimaan

1,406
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score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 11 '20 at 11:29

You are looking for either:

os.mkdir

Or os.makedirs

https://docs.python.org/2/library/os.html

os.makedirs makes all the directories, so if I type in shell (and get nothing):

$ ls
$ python
>>> import os
>>> os.listdir(os.getcwd())
[]
>>> os.makedirs('alex/is/making/a/path')
>>> os.listdir(os.getcwd())
['alex']

It has made all the directories and subdirectories. os.mkdir would throw me an error, because there is no "alex/is/making/a" directory.

Python check if a directory exists, then create it if necessary and save graph to new directory?

2 Answers2