FileSelector#

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import panel as pn
pn.extension()

The FileSelector widget allows browsing the filesystem on the server and selecting one or more files in a directory.

Discover more on using widgets to add interactivity to your applications in the how-to guides on interactivity. Alternatively, learn how to set up callbacks and (JS-)links between parameters or how to use them as part of declarative UIs with Param.

Parameters:#

For details on other options for customizing the component see the layout and styling how-to guides.

Core#

  • directory (str): The directory to browse (cannot access files above this directory).

  • file_pattern (str, default=’*’): A glob-like query expression to limit the displayed files.

  • only_files (bool, default=False): Whether to only allow selecting files.

  • refresh_period (int, default=None): If set to non-None value indicates how frequently to refresh the directory contents in milliseconds.

  • root_directory (str, default=None): If set to non-None value overrides directory parameter as the root directory beyond which users cannot navigate.

  • show_hidden (bool, default=False): Whether to show hidden files and directories (starting with a period).

  • value (list[str]): A list of file names.

Display#

  • label (str): The title of the widget

  • name (str): Deprecated alias for label; use label instead.


The FileSelector widget allows exploring the specified directory on the server’s filesystem and any directories contained within it. The widget consists of the navigation bar with a number of buttons and the address bar:

  • Back (◀): Goes to the previous directory

  • Forward (▶): Returns to the last directory after navigating back

  • Up (⬆): Goes one directory up

  • Address bar: Display the directory to navigate to

  • Enter (⬇): Navigates to the directory in the address bar

  • Reload (↻): Reloads the contents of the current directory

The actual file selector displays the contents of the current directory, to navigate to a subfolder either double-click on it or click on a directory in the file selector and then hit the down arrow (⬇) in the navigation bar. Files and folders may be selected by selecting them in the browser on the left and moving them to the right with the arrow buttons:

files = pn.widgets.FileSelector('~')

files

To get the currently selected files simply access the value parameter:

files.value
[]

Remote filesystem#

By using the power of fsspec we can connect to remote filesystems. In the example below we use the s3fs package to connect to a remote S3 server

import s3fs

fs = s3fs.S3FileSystem(anon=True)

s3_files = pn.widgets.FileSelector(directory="s3://datasets.holoviz.org", fs=fs)
s3_files
s3_files.value
[]

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