Newbie - Directory/File Creation

[holger krekel]

Peter Hansen wrote:
> Michael J Whitmore wrote:
> > 
> > If I do the following, a file is created in the current working
> > directory:
> >     TestFile = open("TestTest.out", 'w')
> > 
> > My question is how to create a file that includes a pathname without
> > having to mkdir beforehand.
> >     Example:
> >     TestFile = open("TestDir\TestTest.out", 'w')
> > 
> > Shouldn't open be smart enough to create the TestDir directory before
> > creating TestTest.out   ?
> > 
> > Is there another command that will do this?
> 
> Use os.path.makedirs() first, although if you really want to do this,

Peter means os.makedirs() of course. 

> I would separate the "ensure this directory exists" part from the 
> "create this file" part.  Or combine the two, but call your own method
> which internally checks whether the path exists (os.path.split() and
> os.path.isdir() are good for part of this), then creates it if necessary
> using makedirs(), then finally creates the file and returns the
> file object.

Michael might be interested in the following "makepath" recipe:

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/117243

cheers,

    holger