Python: How to Access Linux Paths

Question

Using Python, how does one parse/access files with Linux-specific features, like "~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default"? I've tried this, but it doesn't work.

Thanks

Answer 1

This

import glob, os
glob.glob(os.path.expanduser('~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default'))

will give you a list of all files ending in ".default" in the current user's ~/.mozilla/firefox directory using os.path.expanduser to expand the ~ in the path and glob.glob to match the *.default file pattern.

Answer 2

~ is expanded by the shell and not a real path. As such you have to navigate there manually.

import os

homeDir = os.environ['HOME']
f = open( homeDir + '/.mozilla/firefox/*.default' )
# ...