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glob (PTH207)

Added in v0.0.281 · Related issues · View source

Derived from the flake8-use-pathlib linter.

What it does

Checks for the use of glob.glob() and glob.iglob().

Why is this bad?

pathlib offers a high-level API for path manipulation, as compared to the lower-level API offered by os and glob.

When possible, using Path object methods such as Path.glob() can improve readability over their low-level counterparts (e.g., glob.glob()).

Note that glob.glob() and Path.glob() are not exact equivalents:

glob-module functions Path.glob()
Hidden files Hidden files are excluded by default. On Python 3.11+, the include_hidden keyword can be used to include hidden directories. Includes hidden files by default.
Eagerness glob.iglob() returns a lazy iterator. Under the hood, glob.glob() simply converts the iterator to a list. Path.glob() returns a lazy iterator.
Working directory glob.glob() and glob.iglob() take a root_dir keyword to set the current working directory. Path.rglob() can be used to return the relative path.
Globstar (**) The recursive flag must be set to True for the ** pattern to match any files and zero or more directories, subdirectories, and symbolic links. The ** pattern in Path.glob() means "this directory and all subdirectories, recursively". In other words, it enables recursive globbing.

Example

import glob
import os

glob.glob(os.path.join("my_path", "requirements*.txt"))

Use instead:

from pathlib import Path

Path("my_path").glob("requirements*.txt")

Known issues

While using pathlib can improve the readability and type safety of your code, it can be less performant than the lower-level alternatives that work directly with strings, especially on older versions of Python.

References