Randomly ordering files in a directory with python

I have a playlist file which contains audio files to play. The audio player unfortunately plays the music files in a sequential order, in whatever order they are listed in the playlist file. So occasionally I have to regenerate the playlist file to randomize the audio files order. Here is a simple script that I had to write for this purpose, the core component is the random.shuffle(list) python function –

Create script file as shuffle_files.py –

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#!/usr/bin/env python
 
import os
import random
import sys
 
music_files=[]
 
if len(sys.argv) != 2:
  print "Usage:", sys.argv[0], "/path/directory"
else:
  dir_name=sys.argv[1]
  if os.path.isdir(dir_name):
    for file_name in os.listdir(dir_name):
      music_files.append(file_name)
  else:
    print "Directory", dir_name, "does not exist"
    sys.exit(1)
# shuffle list
random.shuffle(music_files)
for item in music_files:
  print os.path.join(dir_name,item)

Run the script by providing a path to a directory with files. Each iteration should list the files in the directory in a different order.
Note – the script does not recurse into the directories, it can be easily modified with os.walk if necessary.

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root@svm1010:/home/daniel/scripts# python shuffle_files.py /opt/iotop/iotop
/opt/iotop/iotop/setup.py
/opt/iotop/iotop/README
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop.8
/opt/iotop/iotop/NEWS
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop.py
/opt/iotop/iotop/PKG-INFO
/opt/iotop/iotop/THANKS
/opt/iotop/iotop/sbin
/opt/iotop/iotop/setup.cfg
/opt/iotop/iotop/ChangeLog
/opt/iotop/iotop/.gitignore
/opt/iotop/iotop/COPYING
 
 
root@svm1010:/home/daniel/scripts# python shuffle_files.py /opt/iotop/iotop
/opt/iotop/iotop/PKG-INFO
/opt/iotop/iotop/COPYING
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop
/opt/iotop/iotop/setup.cfg
/opt/iotop/iotop/NEWS
/opt/iotop/iotop/README
/opt/iotop/iotop/.gitignore
/opt/iotop/iotop/setup.py
/opt/iotop/iotop/THANKS
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop.py
/opt/iotop/iotop/ChangeLog
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop.8
/opt/iotop/iotop/sbin
 
 
root@svm1010:/home/daniel/scripts# python shuffle_files.py /opt/iotop/iotop
/opt/iotop/iotop/THANKS
/opt/iotop/iotop/setup.py
/opt/iotop/iotop/NEWS
/opt/iotop/iotop/README
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop.8
/opt/iotop/iotop/.gitignore
/opt/iotop/iotop/ChangeLog
/opt/iotop/iotop/sbin
/opt/iotop/iotop/PKG-INFO
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop
/opt/iotop/iotop/COPYING
/opt/iotop/iotop/iotop.py
/opt/iotop/iotop/setup.cfg

Reference – https://docs.python.org/2/library/random.html?highlight=shuffle#random.shuffle