NotADirectoryError

NotADirectoryError Occurs When

• Attempting to open a file path as if it were a directory
• Listing contents of a path without verifying if it’s a directory
• Navigating through a file system and encountering an unexpected file in place of a directory

Opening or traversing a non-directory file as if it were a directory raises NotADirectoryError on most POSIX platforms. On every platform, the trigger is the same: requesting a directory operation, such as os.listdir(), on something that isn’t a directory.

NotADirectoryError Example

An example of when the exception appears:

>>> import pathlib

>>> list(pathlib.Path("/etc/hosts").iterdir())
Traceback (most recent call last):
    ...
NotADirectoryError: [Errno 20] Not a directory: '/etc/hosts'

This error indicates that the path exists but points to a file, not a directory.

Related Resources

Tutorial

How to Get a List of All Files in a Directory With Python

In this tutorial, you'll be examining a couple of methods to get a list of files and folders in a directory with Python. You'll also use both methods to recursively list directory contents. Finally, you'll examine a situation that pits one method against the other.

intermediate stdlib

For additional information on related topics, take a look at the following resources:

• Python's pathlib Module: Taming the File System (Tutorial)
• Python Exceptions: An Introduction (Tutorial)
• Introduction to Python Exceptions (Course)
• Listing All Files in a Directory With Python (Course)
• Using Python's pathlib Module (Course)
• Python's pathlib Module: Taming the File System (Quiz)
• Raising and Handling Python Exceptions (Course)
• Python Exceptions: An Introduction (Quiz)