Question: What is the simplest way to get the full recursive list of files inside a folder with python? I know about `os.walk()`, but it seems overkill for just getting the unfiltered list of all files. Is it really the only option?

Answer: 
There's nothing preventing you from creating your own function:

```
import os

def listfiles(folder):
    for root, folders, files in os.walk(folder):
        for filename in folders + files:
            yield os.path.join(root, filename)

```

You can use it like so:

```
for filename in listfiles('/etc/'):
    print filename

```
Either that or manually recursing with [`isdir()`](http://docs.python.org/library/os.path.html#os.path.isdir) / [`isfile()`](http://docs.python.org/library/os.path.html#os.path.isfile) and [`listdir()`](http://docs.python.org/library/os.html#os.listdir) or you could use [`subprocess.check_output()`](http://docs.python.org/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.check_output) and call `find .`. Bascially `os.walk()` is highest level, slightly lower level is semi-manual solution based on `listdir()` and if you want the same output `find .` would give you for some reason you can make a system call with `subprocess`.