Develop Reference

How can I import a csv from another folder in python?

I have a script in python, I want to import a csv from another folder. how can I do this? (for example, my .py is in a folder and I want to reach the data from the desktop)

First of all, you need to understand how relative and absolute paths work.
I write an example using relative paths. I have two folders in desktop called scripts which includes python files and csvs which includes csv files. So, the code would be:
df = pd.read_csv('../csvs/file.csv)
The path means:
.. (previous folder, in this case, desktop folder).
/csvs (csvs folder).
/file.csv (the csv file).

If you are on Windows:
Right-click on the file on your desktop, and go to its properties.
You should see a Location: tag that has a structure similar to this: C:\Users\<user_name>\Desktop
Then you can define the file path as a variable in Python as:
file_path = r'C:\Users\<your_user_name>\Desktop\<your_file_name>.csv'
To read it:
df = pd.read_csv(file_path)
Obviously, always try to use relative paths instead of absolute paths like this in your code. Investing some time into learning the Pathlib module would greatly help you.

Python searching for image in wrong directory

I am trying to load some assets onto my program that I have them in a folder called 'Graphics', which is inside the folder 'Snake', which is inside the folder 'Projects', which is inside the folder 'Python'. However, also inside that folder 'Python' is another folder named 'HelloWorld'.
I am trying to load some assets in a program that I am running in 'Snake' and Python is searching for the assets in the 'HelloWorld' folder (which is where I used to keep my python files).
I get the error:
FileNotFoundError: No file 'Projects/Snake/Graphics/apple.png' found in working directory 'C:\Users\35192\OneDrive - WC\Desktop\Python\HelloWorld'
I believe that for this I have to change the default directory for vs code. I have changed the default directory for the command prompt and it did nothing. Perhaps this is because the python that I am running in the command prompt is different from the one in vs code (?)
How do I fix this?
Thank you in advance.
Edit:
This is how I am currently loading the image:
apple = pygame.image.load('Projects\Snake\Graphics\apple.png').convert_alpha()

Use pathlib to construct the path to your images. You wil have to add import pathlib to your code.
pathlib.Path(__file__) will give you the path to the current file. pathlib.Path(__file__).parent will give you the folder. Now you can construct the path with the / operator.
Try the following code and check the output.
import pathlib
print(pathlib.Path(__file__))
print(pathlib.Path(__file__).parent)
print(pathlib.Path(__file__).parent / 'Grahics' / 'apple.png')
Now you will be able to move the full project to a totally different folder without having to adjust any code.
Your code example looks like this: apple = pygame.image.load('Projects\Snake\Graphics\apple.png').convert_alpha()
If you import pathlib you can replace that with the dynamic approach:
path_to_image= pathlib.Path(__file__).parent / 'Grahics' / 'apple.png'
apple = pygame.image.load(path_to_image).convert_alpha()
I'm quite sure that pygame can work with a path from pathlib. If not then you have to convert the path to a string manually
apple = pygame.image.load(str(path_to_image)).convert_alpha()

You don't need to change the default directory. Just load from the full directory. That should look something like: "C:\Users\...\Python\Snake\Graphics\apple.png".

I think the simplest way is to first see your active directory by simply typing in
pwd, and then you could simply change the directory by cd("C:/path/to/location"), remember you have to use the backslash, or just use the following library:
import os
os.chdir("C:/path/to/location")
As pydragon posted, you could also import it by just giving the import function a path.

python: cd into file

I have a script that creates a folder foo-12345. Issue is, the numbers in the folder change name anytime I run a per script that creates it. I'm trying to find a way to change directory into the folder so I can do a search. I tried using a variable:
import os
output = /var/foo-*
os.chdir(ouput)
This does not seem to work. Is there a way to capture that folder name in a variable and use that variable instead?

You can use the glob module to do it.
import glob
dirs = glob.glob('/var/foo-*')
The resulting dirs is a list, so you will need to process it as such. Have a look at the documentation

Python: import a file from another directory

I am working in a set of directories with the following structure:
Master/
Subfolder_1/file_1_1.py
file_1_2.txt
Subfolder_2/file_2_1.py
I import file_1_1 in file_2_1 as follows:
import sys
sys.path.append('../file_1_1')
file_1_1 is reading file_1_2.txt which is in the same directory. However, when I call the function that reads file_1_2.txt from file_2_1.py, it says no such file and directory and it gives me the path of file_1_2.txt as:
Master/Subfolder_2/file_1_2.txt
which is a wrong path. It seems like python in this case is using the working directory as a reference. How can I solve this error given that I don't want to include the absolute path for each file I read.

Don't mess with sys.path, and don't think of imports as working against files and directories. Ultimately everything has to live in a file somewhere, but the module hierarchy is a little more subtle than "replace dot with slash and stick a .py at the end".
You almost certainly want to be in Master and run python -m Subfolder_1.file_1_1. You can use pkg_resources to get the text file:
pkg_resources.resource_string('Subfolder_1', 'file_1_1.txt')

info=[]
with open(os.path.realpath('yourtextfile.txt','r') as myfile:
for line in myfile:
info.append(line)

reading a file in python from different directory

Probably a simple query.. But basically, I have data in directory "/foo/bar/foobar.txt"
and I am working in directory "/some/path/read_foobar.py"..
Now I want to read the file "foobar.txt" but rather than giving full path, I thought of adding /foo/bar/ to the path..
So, added the following at the start of read_foobar.py
import sys
sys.path.append("/foo/bar")
But when I try to read open("foobar.txt","r"), it is not able to find the file?
how do I do this?
Thanks

You can do it like this:
import os
os.chdir('/foo/bar')
f = open('foobar.txt', 'r')

sys.path is used to set the path used to look for python modules. Short of you writing some helper function that has a list of directories to search in when opening a file, I don't believe there is a standard module that provides this functionality.

From what I gathered from here and some quick tests, appending a path to sys.path will make python search in that path when you import a file/module, but not when open-ing it. Let's say we have a file called foo.py in /foo/bar/
import sys
sys.path.append("/foo/bar/")
try:
f = open('foo.py', 'r')
except:
print('this did not work') # this will print
import foo # no problems here

Unfortunately you can't. The PATH environment variable is only used by the operating system to search for executable files, and python uses it (along with the environment variable PYTHONPATH) to search for python modules to import.
You may want to consider setting a symbolic link to that file from your current working directory
ln -s /foo/bar/foobar.txt /some/path/foobar.text