Get Filename Without Extension in Python

How to get a filename without an extension from a path in Python? To extract the filename without an extension from a path there are different ways in python do this, and in this article, we will explore some of the most popular methods.

You will learn about simple methods like the os.path.splitext() function or the object-oriented approach of the pathlib.Path() class. We will also discuss other techniques like the split() method and the os.path.split() function.

1. Quick Examples to Get Filename Without Extension From Path

If you are in a hurry these quick examples will give you a high-level overview of how to get the filename without an extension from a path in Python. We will discuss each of them in more detail later on.


# Quick Examples
import os
from pathlib import Path

# Example path
path_str = 'C://Ali/Base/file.txt'

# Using os.path.splitext()
filename_without_ext = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(path_str))[0]
print(filename_without_ext)  
# Output: file

# Using pathlib.Path().stem
path = Path(path_str)
filename_without_ext = path.stem
print(filename_without_ext)  
# Output: file

# Using str.split() method
filename_without_ext = path_str.split('/')[-1].split('.')[0]
print(filename_without_ext)  
# Output: file

2. os.path.splitext() - Filename Without Extension

You can use the os.path.splitext() function to get the filename without extension in python. It is a built-in Python function that returns a tuple containing the base name and extension of the specified file path. We can use this function to easily extract the filename without an extension from a given path.

See the below example:


# os.path.splittext() method 
import os

# Example path
path = 'C://Ali/Base/file.txt'

# Get filename without extension
filename = os.path.splitext(path)[0]
print(filename)  

# Output: 
# C://Ali/Base/file

There are cases where a filename have multiple dots in the extensions. The os.path.splitext() can handle different file extensions, including those with multiple dots.

See the below example:


# With Multiple dots extensoin
import os

# Path with multiple dots in extension
path = 'C://Ali/Base/file.tar.gz'

# Get filename without extension
filename = os.path.splitext(path)[0]
print(filename)  

# Output: 
# C://Ali/Base/file.tar

In the above example, you can see it return the complete file path without extension instead of the only filename without extension. If you want to get the file name (without path) and extension separately, you can use os.path.splitext() to split them and then extract the file name from the base name.

See the below example where we have used the os.path.splittext() method to return only the file name without the extension and complete path.


# Getting the filename only
import os

# Path with multiple dots in extension
path = 'C://Ali/Base/file.tar.gz'

# Get filename and extension separately
filename, ext = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(path))

# Get filename without extension
name_only = filename.split('.')[0]
print(name_only)  

# Output:
# file

We can also use the basename() Function to get the base name with extension and the split it to get the filename without extension.


# Using the basename() function
import os

# Example path
path_str = 'C://Ali/Base/file.txt'

# Get the basename using os.path.basename()
basename = os.path.basename(path_str)

filename_without_ext = os.path.splitext(basename)[0]
print(filename_without_ext)

3. Using .stem Attribute to Get Filename without Extension

In Python 3.4 and later, the pathlib module provides an object-oriented approach to working with file paths. One useful method of pathlib.Path is .stem, which returns the filename without extension as a Python string.


# Using the .stem Attribute
from pathlib import Path

# Convert to path object
str_path = 'C://Ali/Base/file.txt'
path = Path(str_path)

# Get filename without extension
filename = path.stem
print(filename)  

# Output: 
# file

While using this method remember that it only removes the extension after the last dot and all other extensions will remain there. If a filename contains an extension with multiple dots then you have to be careful.

4. str.split() method - Get Filename Without Extension

You might have seen the str.split() method for splitting string in multiple instances. In Python, the split() method can be used to split a string into a list of substrings based on a specified separator.

We can use this method to extract the file name without extension from a file path by splitting the path string at the last occurrence of the path separator ("/" or "", depending on the operating system) and then splitting the resulting filename string at the last occurrence of the file extension separator (".").


# Using the str.splittext() method
# Example path
path = 'C://Ali/Base/file.txt'

# Split path into directory and filename with extension
directory, filename_with_ext = path.rsplit('/', 1)

# Split filename with extension into filename and extension
filename, ext = filename_with_ext.split('.', 1)
print(filename)  

# Output: 
# file

5. os.path.split() - Split File Path to Filename and Directories

This is a bit different from the str.split() function. The os.path.split() function is can be used to split a file path into its directory and filename components.

Unlike os.path.splitext(), os.path.split() splits the path at the last occurrence of the path separator ("/" or "") and returns a tuple containing the directory and filename components.


# Using the os.path.split()
import os

# Example path
path = 'C://Ali/Base/file.txt'

# Split path into directory and filename components
directory, filename = os.path.split(path)
print(directory)  

# Output: 
# C://Ali/Base/

print(filename)  

# Output: 
# file.txt

In the above example you have seen that it only return the filename along with extension. It is still important to use it if you want to split the path into its directory and filename components.

6. Summary and Conclusion

In this article, you have learned how to get the filename without extension from a path in python. We have discussed different methods to do so. You have also learned how to split a path to get the file name and its directory. I hope this article was helpful. If you have any questions leave them in the comment section.

Happy Coding!