Python create file in certain directory with open()

Question

My code:

boyka = "hello"
f = open("~/Desktop/" + boyka + ".txt", "a")
f.write(boyka)
f.close

result:

IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '~/Desktop/hello.txt'

Shouldn't the script create the file since it's "a" ? How can I fix the code?

I'm using Ubuntu.

If the problem can't be reproduced, like NightShadeQueen says, the problem must be with the path "~/Desktop/". — m69 ''snarky and unwelcoming''
– m69 ''snarky and unwelcoming'', Commented Aug 31, 2015 at 1:12

Anand S Kumar · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-31 01:00:44Z

4

open() function would not automatically expand the ~ to the users home directory. It is instead trying to create in a directory with exactly that name. I am guessing that is not what you want. In which case you should use - os.path.expanduser() , to expand ~ to the user's home directory. Example -

import os.path
f = open(os.path.expanduser(os.path.join("~/Desktop",boyka + ".txt")), "a")

I would also like to suggest you to use os.path.join() to create the paths , rather than manually creating them.

answered Aug 31, 2015 at 1:00

Anand S Kumar

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1 Comment

J. Doe Over a year ago

Thanks. Worked exactly like i wanted it to

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