Using Python's ftplib to get a directory listing, portably

Question

You can use ftplib for full FTP support in Python. However the preferred way of getting a directory listing is:

# File: ftplib-example-1.py

import ftplib

f         


        

Answer 1

The reliable/standardized way to parse FTP directory listing is by using MLSD command, which by now should be supported by all recent/decent FTP servers.

import ftplib
f = ftplib.FTP()
f.connect("localhost")
f.login()
ls = []
f.retrlines('MLSD', ls.append)
for entry in ls:
    print entry

The code above will print:

modify=20110723201710;perm=el;size=4096;type=dir;unique=807g4e5a5; tests
modify=20111206092323;perm=el;size=4096;type=dir;unique=807g1008e0; .xchat2
modify=20111022125631;perm=el;size=4096;type=dir;unique=807g10001a; .gconfd
modify=20110808185618;perm=el;size=4096;type=dir;unique=807g160f9a; .skychart
...

Starting from python 3.3, ftplib will provide a specific method to do this:

• http://bugs.python.org/issue11072
• http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/67053b135ed9/Lib/ftplib.py#l535