Getting just the current directory without the full path in python

Question

I apologize if this is a question that has already been resolved. I want to get the current directory when running a Python script or within Python. The following will return the full path including the current directory:

os.getcwd()

I can also get the path all the way up to the current directory:

os.path.dirname(os.getcwd())

Using os.path.split will return the same thing as the above, plus the current folder, but then I end up with an object I want:

(thing_I_dont_want, thing_I_want) = os.path.split(os.getcwd())

Is there a way I can get just the thing I want, the current folder, without creating any objects I don't want around? Alternately, is there something I can put in place of the variable thing_I_dont_wantthat will prevent it from being created (e.g. (*, thing_I_want))?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Like this:

os.path.split(os.getcwd())[1]

Although os.path.split returns a tuple, you don't need to unpack it. You can simply select the item that you need and ignore the one that you don't need.

Answer 2

Use os.path.split:

>>> os.path.split(os.getcwd())
('/home/user', 'py')
>>> os.path.split(os.getcwd())[-1]
'py'

help on os.path.split:

>>> print os.path.split.__doc__
Split a pathname.  Returns tuple "(head, tail)" where "tail" is
    everything after the final slash.  Either part may be empty.

Answer 3

You could try this, though it's not safe (as all the given solutions) if the pathname ends with a / for some reason:

os.path.basename(os.getcwd())

Answer 4

The standard pythonic way of denoting that "this is a thing I don't want" is to call it _ - as in:

_, thing_I_want = os.path.split(os.getcwd())

Note that this doesn't do anything special. The object is being created inside os.split(), and it's still being returned and given the name _ - but this does make it clear to people reading your code that you don't care about that particular element.

As well as being a signal to other people, most IDEs and code validators will understand that the variable called _ is to be ignored, and they won't do things like warn you about it never being used.