How to Check File and Directory Existence in Python with os and pathlib

Using the os module

Check if a file exists os.path.isfile(path) Check if a directory exists os.path.isdir(path) General existence check (file or directory)

# Using the path module
os.path.exists(path)
# Using access()
os.access(path, os.F_OK)

Using open and exception handling

If you call open() on a non‑existent file, Python raises an exception; you can catch it with a try block to determine existence.

When the file does not exist, open() raises FileNotFoundError. If the path points to a directory, it raises IsADirectoryError. If you lack permission, it raises PermissionError.

filePath = '/path/to/file'
try:
    file = open(filePath)
    file.close()
except FileNotFoundError:
    print("No such file or directory: '%s'" % filePath)
except IsADirectoryError:
    print("Is a directory: '%s'" % filePath)
except PermissionError:
    print("Permission denied: '%s'" % filePath)
else:
    print("File exists: '%s'" % filePath)

Using the pathlib module

import pathlib
path = pathlib.Path('path/to/file')
# Check if the path exists
path.exists()
# Check if it is a file
path.is_file()
# Check if it is a directory
path.is_dir()