Python – os.mkdir(path) Returns OSError When Directory Does Not Exist

mkdirpythonsystem

I am calling os.mkdir to create a folder with a certain set of generated data. However, even though the path I specified has not been created, the os.mkdir(path) raises an OSError that the path already exists.

For example, I call:

os.mkdir(test)

This call results in OSError: [Errno 17] File exists: 'test' even though I don't have a test directory or a file named test anywhere.

NOTE: the actual path name I use is not "test" but something more obscure that I'm sure is not named anywhere.

Help, please?

Best Answer

In Python 3.2 and above, you can use:

os.makedirs(path, exist_ok=True)

to avoid getting an exception if the directory already exists. This will still raise an exception if path exists and is not a directory.

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