New generator os.walk() does a bit more than os.path.walk() does, and

seems much easier to use.  Code, docs, NEWS, and additions to test_os.py
(testing this sucker is a bitch!).

Doc/lib/libos.tex

@@ -1050,6 +1050,71 @@ which is used to set the access and modified times, respectively.
 Availability: Macintosh, \UNIX, Windows.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
+\begin{funcdesc}{walk}{top\optional{, topdown=True}}
+\index{directory!walking}
+\index{directory!traversal}
+
+\function{walk()} generates the file names in a directory tree.
+For each directory in the tree rooted at directory \var{top} (including
+\var{top} itself), it yields a 3-tuple
+\code{(\var{dirpath}, \var{dirnames}, \var{filenames})}.
+
+\var{dirpath} is a string, the path to the directory.  \var{dirnames} is
+a list of the names of the subdirectories in \var{dirpath}
+(excluding \code{'.'} and \code{'..'}).  \var{filenames} is a list of
+the names of the non-directory files in \var{dirpath}.  Note that the
+names in the lists contain no path components.  To get a full
+path (which begins with \var{top)) to a file or directory in
+\var{dirpath}, do \code{os.path.join(\var{dirpath}, \var{name})}.
+
+If optional argument \var{topdown} is true or not specified, the triple
+for a directory is generated before the triples for any of its
+subdirectories (directories are generated top down).  If \var{topdown} is
+false, the triple for a directory is generated after the triples for all
+of its subdirectories (directories are generated bottom up).
+
+When \var{topdown} is true, the caller can modify the \var{dirnames} list
+in-place (e.g., via \keyword{del} or slice assignment), and
+\function{walk()} will only recurse into the subdirectories whose names
+remain in \var{dirnames}; this can be used to prune the search,
+impose a specific order of visiting, or even to inform \function{walk()}
+about directories the caller creates or renames before it resumes
+\function{walk()} again.  Modifying \var{dirnames} when \var{topdown} is
+false is ineffective, because in bottom-up mode the directories in
+\var{dirnames} are generated before \var{dirnames} itself is generated.
+
+\begin{notice}
+If you pass a relative pathname, don't change the current working
+directory between resumptions of \function{walk}.  \function{walk}
+never changes the current directory, and assumes that its caller
+doesn't either.
+\end{notice}
+
+\begin{notice}
+On systems that support symbolic links, links to subdirectories appear
+in \var{dirnames} lists, but \function{walk()} will not visit them
+(infinite loops are hard to avoid when following symbolic links).
+To visit linked directories, you can identify them with
+\code{os.path.islink(\var{path})}, and invoke \function{walk(\var{path})}
+on each directly.
+\end{notice}
+
+This example displays the number of bytes taken by non-directory files
+in each directory under the starting directory, except that it doesn't
+look under any CVS subdirectory:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+import os
+from os.path import join, getsize
+for root, dirs, files in os.walk('python/Lib/email'):
+    print root, "consumes",
+    print sum([getsize(join(root, name)) for name in files]),
+    print "bytes in", len(files), "non-directory files"
+    if 'CVS' in dirs:
+        dirs.remove('CVS')  # don't visit CVS directories
+\end{verbatim}
+\versionadded{2.3}
+\end{funcdesc}
 
 \subsection{Process Management \label{os-process}}
 

Doc/lib/libposixpath.tex

@@ -237,6 +237,12 @@ directories you must identify them with
 \code{os.path.isdir(\var{file})}, and invoke \function{walk()} as
 necessary.
 \end{notice}
+
+\begin{seealso}
+  \seemodule{os}{The newer \function{os.walk()} generator supplies similar
+                 functionality and can be easier to use.
+\end{seealso}
+
 \end{funcdesc}
 
 \begin{datadesc}{supports_unicode_filenames}

Lib/os.py

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import sys
 
 _names = sys.builtin_module_names
 
+# Note:  more names are added to __all__ later.
 __all__ = ["altsep", "curdir", "pardir", "sep", "pathsep", "linesep",
            "defpath", "name", "path"]
 
@@ -158,7 +159,7 @@ def removedirs(name):
     Super-rmdir; remove a leaf directory and empty all intermediate
     ones.  Works like rmdir except that, if the leaf directory is
     successfully removed, directories corresponding to rightmost path
-    segments will be pruned way until either the whole path is
+    segments will be pruned away until either the whole path is
     consumed or an error occurs.  Errors during this latter phase are
     ignored -- they generally mean that a directory was not empty.
 
@@ -202,6 +203,84 @@ def renames(old, new):
 
 __all__.extend(["makedirs", "removedirs", "renames"])
 
+def walk(top, topdown=True):
+    """Directory tree generator.
+
+    For each directory in the directory tree rooted at top (including top
+    itself, but excluding '.' and '..'), yields a 3-tuple
+
+        dirpath, dirnames, filenames
+
+    dirpath is a string, the path to the directory.  dirnames is a list of
+    the names of the subdirectories in dirpath (excluding '.' and '..').
+    filenames is a list of the names of the non-directory files in dirpath.
+    Note that the names in the lists are just names, with no path components.
+    To get a full path (which begins with top) to a file or directory in
+    dirpath, do os.path.join(dirpath, name).
+
+    If optional arg 'topdown' is true or not specified, the triple for a
+    directory is generated before the triples for any of its subdirectories
+    (directories are generated top down).  If topdown is false, the triple
+    for a directory is generated after the triples for all of its
+    subdirectories (directories are generated bottom up).
+
+    When topdown is true, the caller can modify the dirnames list in-place
+    (e.g., via del or slice assignment), and walk will only recurse into the
+    subdirectories whose names remain in dirnames; this can be used to prune
+    the search, or to impose a specific order of visiting.  Modifying
+    dirnames when topdown is false is ineffective, since the directories in
+    dirnames have already been generated by the time dirnames itself is
+    generated.
+
+    Caution:  if you pass a relative pathname for top, don't change the
+    current working directory between resumptions of walk.  walk never
+    changes the current directory, and assumes that the client doesn't
+    either.
+
+    Example:
+
+    from os.path import join, getsize
+    for root, dirs, files in walk('python/Lib/email'):
+        print root, "consumes",
+        print sum([getsize(join(root, name)) for name in files]),
+        print "bytes in", len(files), "non-directory files"
+        if 'CVS' in dirs:
+            dirs.remove('CVS')  # don't visit CVS directories
+    """
+
+    from os.path import join, isdir, islink
+
+    # We may not have read permission for top, in which case we can't
+    # get a list of the files the directory contains.  os.path.walk
+    # always suppressed the exception then, rather than blow up for a
+    # minor reason when (say) a thousand readable directories are still
+    # left to visit.  That logic is copied here.
+    try:
+        # Note that listdir and error are globals in this module due
+        # to earlier import-*.
+        names = listdir(top)
+    except error:
+        return
+
+    dirs, nondirs = [], []
+    for name in names:
+        if isdir(join(top, name)):
+            dirs.append(name)
+        else:
+            nondirs.append(name)
+
+    if topdown:
+        yield top, dirs, nondirs
+    for name in dirs:
+        path = join(top, name)
+        if not islink(path):
+            for x in walk(path, topdown):
+                yield x
+    if not topdown:
+        yield top, dirs, nondirs
+
+__all__.append("walk")
+
 # Make sure os.environ exists, at least
 try:
     environ

Lib/test/test_os.py

@@ -202,11 +202,93 @@ class EnvironTests(TestMappingProtocol):
         os.environ.clear()
         os.environ.update(self.__save)
 
+class WalkTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Tests for os.walk()."""
+
+    def test_traversal(self):
+        import os
+        from os.path import join
+
+        # Build:
+        #     TESTFN/               a file kid and two directory kids
+        #         tmp1
+        #         SUB1/             a file kid and a directory kid
+        #             tmp2
+        #             SUB11/        no kids
+        #         SUB2/             just a file kid
+        #             tmp3
+        sub1_path = join(TESTFN, "SUB1")
+        sub11_path = join(sub1_path, "SUB11")
+        sub2_path = join(TESTFN, "SUB2")
+        tmp1_path = join(TESTFN, "tmp1")
+        tmp2_path = join(sub1_path, "tmp2")
+        tmp3_path = join(sub2_path, "tmp3")
+
+        # Create stuff.
+        os.makedirs(sub11_path)
+        os.makedirs(sub2_path)
+        for path in tmp1_path, tmp2_path, tmp3_path:
+            f = file(path, "w")
+            f.write("I'm " + path + " and proud of it.  Blame test_os.\n")
+            f.close()
+
+        # Walk top-down.
+        all = list(os.walk(TESTFN))
+        self.assertEqual(len(all), 4)
+        # We can't know which order SUB1 and SUB2 will appear in.
+        # Not flipped:  TESTFN, SUB1, SUB11, SUB2
+        #     flipped:  TESTFN, SUB2, SUB1, SUB11
+        flipped = all[0][1][0] != "SUB1"
+        all[0][1].sort()
+        self.assertEqual(all[0], (TESTFN, ["SUB1", "SUB2"], ["tmp1"]))
+        self.assertEqual(all[1 + flipped], (sub1_path, ["SUB11"], ["tmp2"]))
+        self.assertEqual(all[2 + flipped], (sub11_path, [], []))
+        self.assertEqual(all[3 - 2 * flipped], (sub2_path, [], ["tmp3"]))
+
+        # Prune the search.
+        all = []
+        for root, dirs, files in os.walk(TESTFN):
+            all.append((root, dirs, files))
+            # Don't descend into SUB1.
+            if 'SUB1' in dirs:
+                # Note that this also mutates the dirs we appended to all!
+                dirs.remove('SUB1')
+        self.assertEqual(len(all), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(all[0], (TESTFN, ["SUB2"], ["tmp1"]))
+        self.assertEqual(all[1], (sub2_path, [], ["tmp3"]))
+
+        # Walk bottom-up.
+        all = list(os.walk(TESTFN, topdown=False))
+        self.assertEqual(len(all), 4)
+        # We can't know which order SUB1 and SUB2 will appear in.
+        # Not flipped:  SUB11, SUB1, SUB2, TESTFN
+        #     flipped:  SUB2, SUB11, SUB1, TESTFN
+        flipped = all[3][1][0] != "SUB1"
+        all[3][1].sort()
+        self.assertEqual(all[3], (TESTFN, ["SUB1", "SUB2"], ["tmp1"]))
+        self.assertEqual(all[flipped], (sub11_path, [], []))
+        self.assertEqual(all[flipped + 1], (sub1_path, ["SUB11"], ["tmp2"]))
+        self.assertEqual(all[2 - 2 * flipped], (sub2_path, [], ["tmp3"]))
+
+        # Tear everything down.  This is a decent use for bottom-up on
+        # Windows, which doesn't have a recursive delete command.  The
+        # (not so) subtlety is that rmdir will fail unless the dir's
+        # kids are removed first, so bottom up is essential.
+        for root, dirs, files in os.walk(TESTFN, topdown=False):
+            for name in files:
+                os.remove(join(root, name))
+            for name in dirs:
+                os.rmdir(join(root, name))
+        os.rmdir(TESTFN)
+
 def test_main():
     suite = unittest.TestSuite()
-    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(TemporaryFileTests))
+    for cls in (TemporaryFileTests,
-    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(StatAttributeTests))
+                StatAttributeTests,
-    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(EnvironTests))
+                EnvironTests,
+                WalkTests,
+               ):
+        suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(cls))
     run_suite(suite)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":

Misc/NEWS

@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ Extension modules
   Subsumed the times() function into repeat().
   Added chain() and cycle().
 
-- The rotor module is now deprecated; the encryption algorithm it uses 
+- The rotor module is now deprecated; the encryption algorithm it uses
   is not believed to be secure, and including crypto code with Python
   has implications for exporting and importing it in various countries.
 
@@ -139,6 +139,11 @@ Extension modules
 Library
 -------
 
+- New generator function os.walk() is an easy-to-use alternative to
+  os.path.walk().  See os module docs for details.  os.path.walk()
+  isn't deprecated at this time, but may become deprecated in a
+  future release.
+
 - Added new module "platform" which provides a wide range of tools
   for querying platform dependent features.