How to open multiple filenames in Tkinter and add the file names to a list?

To open multiple files in a Tkinter application and add their names to a list, we use the tkinter.filedialog package. This creates a dialog box to interact with external files on the system.

Importing the Required Module

First, import the filedialog module ?

import tkinter.filedialog as fd

Using askopenfilenames() Function

The askopenfilenames() function opens a file explorer window that allows users to select multiple files. It returns a tuple of selected file paths.

Syntax

fd.askopenfilenames(parent=None, title="Open files", **options)

Complete Example

Here's a complete example that opens multiple files and displays their names in a list ?

# Import the required libraries
from tkinter import *
from tkinter import ttk
import tkinter.filedialog as fd

# Create an instance of tkinter frame or window
win = Tk()

# Set the geometry of tkinter frame
win.geometry("700x350")

def open_file():
    # Open file dialog for multiple file selection
    files = fd.askopenfilenames(parent=win, title='Choose Files')
    
    # Convert tuple to list and print
    file_list = list(files)
    print("Selected files:")
    for file in file_list:
        print(file)

# Add a Label widget
label = Label(win, text="Select the Button to Open Multiple Files", font=('Arial', 11))
label.pack(pady=30)

# Add a Button Widget
ttk.Button(win, text="Select Files", command=open_file).pack()

win.mainloop()

How It Works

When you run this code and click "Select Files", a dialog box appears allowing you to:

• Select multiple files by holding Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or Cmd (Mac)
• The selected file paths are returned as a tuple
• Convert the tuple to a list for easier manipulation
• Print each file path in the console

Enhanced Example with Display

Here's an improved version that displays selected files in the GUI ?

from tkinter import *
from tkinter import ttk
import tkinter.filedialog as fd

win = Tk()
win.geometry("700x400")
win.title("Multiple File Selector")

# Variable to store file list
selected_files = []

def open_files():
    global selected_files
    files = fd.askopenfilenames(
        parent=win, 
        title='Choose Multiple Files',
        filetypes=[("All files", "*.*"), ("Text files", "*.txt"), ("Python files", "*.py")]
    )
    
    # Convert to list
    selected_files = list(files)
    
    # Update display
    update_display()

def update_display():
    # Clear previous content
    file_listbox.delete(0, END)
    
    # Add each file to listbox
    for file in selected_files:
        # Show only filename, not full path
        filename = file.split('/')[-1]  # For Unix-like systems
        if '\' in file:  # For Windows
            filename = file.split('\')[-1]
        file_listbox.insert(END, filename)
    
    count_label.config(text=f"Files selected: {len(selected_files)}")

# Create widgets
label = Label(win, text="Multiple File Selector", font=('Arial', 14, 'bold'))
label.pack(pady=10)

ttk.Button(win, text="Select Files", command=open_files).pack(pady=10)

count_label = Label(win, text="Files selected: 0", font=('Arial', 10))
count_label.pack(pady=5)

# Listbox to display selected files
file_listbox = Listbox(win, height=15, width=80)
file_listbox.pack(pady=10, padx=20, fill=BOTH, expand=True)

win.mainloop()

Key Features

Conclusion

Use askopenfilenames() to select multiple files in Tkinter. Convert the returned tuple to a list for easier manipulation. Add file type filters and GUI display for better user experience.