List Files in a Google Cloud Storage Bucket using Python

In this tutorial, we will learn how to retrieve a list of all objects (blobs) stored within a specific Cloud Storage bucket using Python. This is useful for auditing bucket content and building file browsers.

Python Code to List Files

We will use the list_blobs() method to retrieve objects stored inside a bucket.

Example: List files in a bucket.

Python

# Import required packages
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os
from google.oauth2 import service_account
from google.cloud import storage

def main():
    # Load environment variables from a .env file
    load_dotenv()

    # Read values from environment variables
    credentials_path = os.getenv("GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS")
    project_name = os.getenv("project_id")

    # Load service account credentials
    credentials = service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file(
        credentials_path
    )

    # Create the Storage client
    client = storage.Client(credentials=credentials, project=project_name)

    # Define the bucket name
    bucket_name = "new-bucket-via-python-sdk"

    # List all blobs (files) in the bucket
    blobs = client.list_blobs(bucket_name)

    print(f"Files in bucket {bucket_name}:")

    # Iterate through each file
    for blob in blobs:
        print(f"File Name: {blob.name}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Key Steps Explained

client.list_blobs(bucket_name): Returns an iterator over all objects in the specified bucket.
blob.name: Retrieves the full path and name of each stored file.
The loop prints each file available in the bucket.

Note: Cloud Storage uses a flat namespace. Objects containing slashes in their names simulate a folder structure.

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