Question

I am looking for a code in python that allows me to take a directory and create a list similar to “ls –lR” containing all the files in the dir. and sub-dir. in a tabular form with their names, size, date last modified, permissions, users etc.

And also the total size of all the files in the directories and sub-directories.

I have used stats as of now, for the time, size and permissions and have appended the same in lists of which I have made tables. But to find the file name, the perm, owner and group. If I could get a neater code?

Answer 1

If you are using python 2.x you can use :

commands.getoutput("ls –lR") 

for python 3.0 you can try :

subprocess.check_output("ls -lR")

Hope it helps!

EDIT

Commands.getoutput and subprocess.check_output will return the output from the command you used as parameter.

Ex:

lslr = commands.getoutput("ls –lR") 
print lslr

This will give you exactly the same output as ls -lR in your current dir. Then it’s up to you to filter whatever you need from there!

To change current dir use os.chdir(/desired/dir).