Python Standard Library

The dircache Module

(Obsolete) The dircache module contains a function to get a list of files in a directory. It’s an extension of the os.listdir function in that it keeps a cache to avoid rereading a directory that hasn’t been modified. Example 14-17 demonstrates this.

Example 14-17. Using the dircache Module

File: dircache-example-1.py

import dircache

import os, time

# 
# test cached version

t0 = time.clock()

for i in range(100):
    dircache.listdir(os.sep)

print "cached", time.clock() - t0

# 
# test standard version

t0 = time.clock()

for i in range(100):
    os.listdir(os.sep)

print "standard", time.clock() - t0

cached 0.0664509964968
standard 0.5560845807