- [Copying Files and Folders](#copying-files-and-folders)

- [Moving and Renaming Files and Folders](#moving-and-renaming-files-and-folders)

- [Permanently Deleting Files and Folders](#permanently-deleting-files-and-folders)

- [Safe Deletes with the send2trash Module](#safe-deletes-with-the-send2trash-module)

- [Walking a Directory Tree](#walking-a-directory-tree)

- [Reading ZIP Files](#reading-zip-files)

- [Extracting from ZIP Files](#extracting-from-zip-files)

- [Creating and Adding to ZIP Files](#creating-and-adding-to-zip-files)

The shutil module provides functions for copying files, as well as entire folders.

>>> import shutil, os

>>> os.chdir('C:\\')

>>> shutil.copy('C:\\spam.txt', 'C:\\delicious')

'C:\\delicious\\spam.txt'

>>> shutil.copy('eggs.txt', 'C:\\delicious\\eggs2.txt')

'C:\\delicious\\eggs2.txt'

While shutil.copy() will copy a single file, shutil.copytree() will copy an entire folder and every folder and file contained in it:

>>> import shutil, os

>>> os.chdir('C:\\')

>>> shutil.copytree('C:\\bacon', 'C:\\bacon_backup')

>>> import shutil

>>> shutil.move('C:\\bacon.txt', 'C:\\eggs')

The destination path can also specify a filename. In the following example, the source file is moved and renamed:

>>> shutil.move('C:\\bacon.txt', 'C:\\eggs\\new_bacon.txt')

If there is no eggs folder, then move() will rename bacon.txt to a file named eggs.

>>> shutil.move('C:\\bacon.txt', 'C:\\eggs')

- Calling os.unlink(path) will delete the file at path.

- Calling os.rmdir(path) will delete the folder at path. This folder must be empty of any files or folders.

- Calling shutil.rmtree(path) will remove the folder at path, and all files and folders it contains will also be deleted.

You can install this module by running pip install send2trash from a Terminal window.

>>> import send2trash

>>> baconFile = open('bacon.txt', 'a') # creates the file

>>> baconFile.write('Bacon is not a vegetable.')

>>> baconFile.close()

>>> send2trash.send2trash('bacon.txt')

import os

for folderName, subfolders, filenames in os.walk('C:\\delicious'):

print('The current folder is ' + folderName)

for subfolder in subfolders:

print('SUBFOLDER OF ' + folderName + ': ' + subfolder)

for filename in filenames:

print('FILE INSIDE ' + folderName + ': '+ filename)

print('')

Output:

The current folder is C:\delicious

SUBFOLDER OF C:\delicious: cats

SUBFOLDER OF C:\delicious: walnut

FILE INSIDE C:\delicious: spam.txt

The current folder is C:\delicious\cats

FILE INSIDE C:\delicious\cats: catnames.txt

FILE INSIDE C:\delicious\cats: zophie.jpg

The current folder is C:\delicious\walnut

SUBFOLDER OF C:\delicious\walnut: waffles

The current folder is C:\delicious\walnut\waffles

FILE INSIDE C:\delicious\walnut\waffles: butter.txt.

>>> import zipfile, os

>>> os.chdir('C:\\') # move to the folder with example.zip

>>> exampleZip = zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip')

>>> exampleZip.namelist()

['spam.txt', 'cats/', 'cats/catnames.txt', 'cats/zophie.jpg']

>>> spamInfo = exampleZip.getinfo('spam.txt')

>>> spamInfo.file_size

>>> spamInfo.compress_size

>>> 'Compressed file is %sx smaller!' % (round(spamInfo.file_size / spamInfo.compress_size, 2))

>>> exampleZip.close()

The extractall() method for ZipFile objects extracts all the files and folders from a ZIP file into the current working directory.

>>> import zipfile, os

>>> os.chdir('C:\\') # move to the folder with example.zip

>>> exampleZip = zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip')

>>> exampleZip.extractall()

>>> exampleZip.close()

The extract() method for ZipFile objects will extract a single file from the ZIP file. Continue the interactive shell example:

>>> exampleZip.extract('spam.txt')

>>> exampleZip.extract('spam.txt', 'C:\\some\\new\\folders')

>>> exampleZip.close()

>>> import zipfile

>>> newZip = zipfile.ZipFile('new.zip', 'w')

>>> newZip.write('spam.txt', compress_type=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)

>>> newZip.close()

This code will create a new ZIP file named new.zip that has the compressed contents of spam.txt.