Problem using glob: file not found after os.path.join() - python-3.x

Question

I met strange problem using glob (python 3.10.0/Linux):
if I use glob for location of the required file using following construct:
def get_last_file(folder, date=datetime.today().date()):
os.chdir(folder)
_files = glob.glob("*.csv")
_files.sort(key=os.path.getctime)
os.chdir(os.path.join("..", ".."))
for _filename in _files[::-1]:
string = str(date).split("-")
if "".join(string) in _filename:
return _filename
# if cannot find the specific date, return newest file
return _files[-1]
but when I try to
os.path.join(fileDir, file)
with the resulting file, I get the relative path which leads to:
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'data/1109.csv'.
File certainly exist and whet i try os.path.join(fileDir, '1109.csv'), file is found.
The weirdest thing - if i do:
filez = get_last_file(fileDir, datetime.today().date())
file = '1109.csv''
I still get file not found for file after os.path.join(fileDir, file).
Should I avoid using glob at all?

Answer 1

I made such solution:
file =''
_mtime=0
for root, dirs, filenames in os.walk(fileDir):
for f in sorted(filenames):
if f.endswith(".csv"):
if os.path.getmtime(fileDir+f) > _mtime:
_mtime = os.path.getmtime(fileDir+f)
file = f
print (f'fails {file}')
and the resulting os.path.join(fileDir, file) gives (relative) path fit for further operations
Also the difference between getctime and getmtime is accounted for.

Answer 2

While not a direct solution, try looking at Python's Pathlib library. It often leads to cleaner, less buggy solutions.
from pathlib import Path
def get_last_file(folder, date=datetime.today().date()):
folder = pathlib.Path(folder) # Works for both relative and absolute paths
_files = Path.cwd().glob("*.csv")
_files.sort(key=os.path.getctime)
grandparent_path = folder.parents[1]
for _filename in _files[::-1]:
string = str(date).split("-")
if "".join(string) in _filename:
return _filename
# if cannot find the specific date, return newest file
return _files[-1]
Then instead of using os.path.join() you can do path_dir / file_name where path_dir is Path object. This may also be the case that you are changing the base path in within your function, leading to unexpected behaviour.