CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonrandomms-worddocx
Ali
Ali

Reputation: 83

Why can't I get a random file from the directory?

I'm trying to get a random word file from a specified directory, but it returns nothing Here's the some part of the code.

for filename in glob.glob(os.path.join(path, '*docx')):
    fl = []
    fl.append(filename)
return fl

choice = random.choice(fl)
doc = docx.Document(choice)
print(doc.paragraphs[0].text) # There is a paragraph on the document starting on the first line so problem is not there.

There is nothing wrong with the path. Eveything was working just fine when I was not trying to get only one random file instead of all the files.

  1. What am I doing it wrong?
  2. Is there any more efficient way of doing it?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 72

Answers (2)

Renjith Thankachan
Renjith Thankachan

Reputation: 4336

In your for loop logic you are initializing the fl list every time you are getting the filename which makes the fl value to include only last filename(which makes random.choice function give you only same filename), instead rewrite it as, 

fl = []
for filename in glob.glob(os.path.join(path, '*docx')):
    fl = fl.append(filename)

though the looping is not needed in your case, I suggest you look at what @kra3 answered here.

Upvotes: 1

Arun Karunagath
Arun Karunagath

Reputation: 1578

return fl is looking kind of odd. Otherwise it should work.

files = glob.glob(os.path.join(path, '*docx')
choice = random.choice(files) # each time you get a random file out of files.

You don't have to create another list running files through a loop, like you have done.

Upvotes: 2

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