In Python, fastest way to build a list of files in a directory with a certain extension

Question

In Python on a GNU/Linux system, what\'s the fastest way to recursively scan a directory for all .MOV or .AVI files, and to store them in a list? <

Answer 1

pattern = re.compile('.*\.(mov|MOV|avi|mpg)$')

def fileList(source):
   matches = []
   for root, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(source):
       for filename in filter(lambda name:pattern.match(name),filenames):
           matches.append(os.path.join(root, filename))
   return matches