stupid question about os.listdir

[Jason Kratz]

Here is more clarification.   Here is my script called backup.py

import os.path
import os

def getdirs(path):

     dirs = []

     os.chdir(path)
     for entry in os.listdir(path):
         if os.path.isdir(entry):
             dirs.append(entry)

     return dirs

print getdirs('/')


if I run this from the command line on linux with 'python backup.py' it 
works *if* I have os.chdir in there.  if I comment it out it doesnt list 
starting from the root dir...it starts in my home dir.

If go into the interactive command mode by just typing 'python' at the 
prompt and do:

import os
os.listdir('/') then it prints out the dirs under root.

incidentally this happens on windows as well

Jason Kratz wrote:
> OK. I've search on google groups and around the web for this and I 
> haven't found an answer.  I'm a Python newbie and have what I assume is 
> a basic question.  os.listdir takes a pathname as an arg but it doesn't 
> actually list the contents of the dir I pass in.   it always operates on 
> the current dir (wherever the script is run) and I have to chdir 
> beforehand.  Is that how its supposed to work?  If so what is the point 
> in passing in a pathname?
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Jason
>