EC
FileNotFoundError
PythonERRORCriticalI/O ErrorHIGH confidence

File or directory not found

What this means

A subclass of `OSError`, this exception is raised when you try to access a file or directory that does not exist. This is one of the most common I/O errors developers encounter.

Why it happens
  1. 1A typo in the file or directory path.
  2. 2The file exists, but in a different directory from where the script is being executed (a common relative path issue).
  3. 3The file was deleted, moved, or renamed before the program tried to access it.
How to reproduce

This error is triggered when `open()` is used to read a file that does not exist at the specified path.

trigger — this will error
trigger — this will error
with open("this_file_does_not_exist.txt", "r") as f:
    content = f.read()

expected output

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'this_file_does_not_exist.txt'

Fix 1

Use an absolute path or verify the relative path

WHEN You are not sure about the script's current working directory.

Use an absolute path or verify the relative path
# Use an absolute path
# path = "C:/Users/test/my_file.txt" # Windows
path = "/home/user/my_file.txt"   # Linux/macOS
try:
    with open(path, "r") as f:
        print(f.read())
except FileNotFoundError:
    print(f"File not found at: {path}")

Why this works

An absolute path is unambiguous and does not depend on the current working directory, making it a more robust way to locate files.

Fix 2

Check if the file exists before opening

WHEN The file is optional and the program can continue without it.

Check if the file exists before opening
import os
path = "optional_config.txt"
if os.path.exists(path):
    with open(path, "r") as f:
        # process file
        pass
else:
    print("Optional config not found, using defaults.")

Why this works

`os.path.exists()` safely checks for the existence of a file or directory without raising an error, allowing your program to decide how to proceed.

Code examples
Triggerpython
with open("missing.txt") as f:
    content = f.read()  # FileNotFoundError
Handle with try/exceptpython
try:
    with open(path) as f:
        data = f.read()
except FileNotFoundError:
    data = None
Avoid with pathlib.exists()python
from pathlib import Path
p = Path("config.txt")
data = p.read_text() if p.exists() else "{}"
What not to do

✕ Creating the file if it doesn't exist when you expected it to be there

If your program's logic depends on a file being present (e.g., a config file), creating an empty one can mask the real problem and lead to other errors downstream.

Version notes

Sources
Official documentation ↗

cpython/Objects/exceptions.c

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