Question

How to extract file extension using Python?

Answer 1

Yes. Use os.path.splitext(see Python 2.X documentation or Python 3.X documentation):

>>> import os

>>> filename, file_extension = os.path.splitext('/path/to/somefile.ext')

>>> filename

'/path/to/somefile'

>>> file_extension

'.ext'

Unlike most manual string-splitting attempts, os.path.splitext will correctly treat /a/b.c/d as having no extension instead of having extension .c/d, and it will treat .bashrc as having no extension instead of having extension .bashrc:

>>> os.path.splitext('/a/b.c/d')

('/a/b.c/d', '')

>>> os.path.splitext('.bashrc')

('.bashrc', '')