python library call equivalent to `which' command

[Robert Kern]

On 2009-06-29 14:31, Tim Pinkawa wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 2:17 PM, Christian Heimes<lists at cheimes.de>  wrote:
>> "if file in os.list()" is slow and not correct. You have to check if the
>> file is either a real file or a symlink to a file and not a directory or
>> special. Then you have to verify that the file has the executable bit, too.
>
> I realize four lines of Python does not replicate the functionality of
> which exactly. It was intended to give the original poster something
> to start with.
>
> I am curious about it being slow, though. Is there a faster way to get
> the contents of a directory than os.listdir() or is there a faster way
> to see if an element is in a list other than "x in y"? I believe
> 'which' will terminate once it finds any match, which mine does not,
> but that can be fixed by adding a break after the print.

Just check if os.path.exists(os.path.join(path, filename)).

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco