{"id":11261,"date":"2020-12-07T15:02:07","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T15:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/?p=11261"},"modified":"2023-02-16T19:56:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T19:56:57","slug":"shutil-module","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python-modules\/shutil-module","title":{"rendered":"Shutil Module in Python"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hey! In this tutorial, we will learn about the functions present in the shutil module of Python. So, let’s get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Python’s shutil module provides us a number of high-level operations on files. We can copy and remove files and directories. Let’s get started with the module and learn the practical implementation of each of the files in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to copy files with shutil module?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are various methods available in shutil module to copy the contents of one file to another file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. shutil.copyfileobj(src,dst)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Suppose, we want to copy the contents of the file data.txt<\/em> to data1.txt<\/em>, we can use the follow piece of code:<\/p>\n\n\n

\nimport shutil\n\nf=open('data.txt','r')\nf1=open('data1.txt','w')\n\n# Syntax: shutil.copyfileobj(src,dst)\nshutil.copyfileobj(f,f1)\n\nf.close()\nf1.close()\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
2. shutil.copy(src,dst)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Another method of copying the data of one file to another can be without creating the file object. Here, we pass the relative path of our files.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\n#shutil.copy(src.dst)\nshutil.copy('data.txt','data1.txt')\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
3. shutil.copy2(src,dst)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
copy<\/em>(src,dst) and copy2(src,dst)<\/em> functions are almost the same but copy2(src,dst)<\/em> also copies the metadata of the source file. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Metadata includes the information about when the file was created, accessed or modified.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\n#shutil.copy2(src,dst)\nshutil.copy2('data.txt','data1.txt')\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
4. shutil.copyfile(src,dst)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Here, source and destination can be relative path or absolute path. Suppose, we want to copy a file to a folder, we can use the following code snippet:<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\nimport os\n\npath='D:\\DSCracker\\DS Cracker\\Python'\nprint("Before copying file:") \nprint(os.listdir(path)) \n\nshutil.copyfile('data.txt','Python\/data3.txt')\n\nprint("After copying file:") \nprint(os.listdir(path))\n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nBefore copying file:\n['hey.py']\nAfter copying file:\n['data3.txt', 'hey.py']\n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
5. shutil.move(src,dst)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Suppose, we want to delete a file from one location and move it to another location. Here, let’s move shutil.py<\/em> from source to a different location:<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\nimport os\n\npath='D:\\DSCracker\\DS Cracker'\nprint("Source folder:") \nprint(os.listdir(path))\n\npath1='D:\\DSCracker\\DS Cracker\\Python'\nshutil.move('shutil.py','Python')\n\nprint("After moving file shutil.py to destination folder, destination contains:") \nprint(os.listdir(path1))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nSource folder:\n['cs', 'data.txt', 'Python', 'ReverseArray', 'ReverseArray.cpp', 'shutil.py']\nAfter moving file shutill.py to destination folder, destination contains:\n['data1.txt', 'data3.txt', 'hey.py', 'nsawk.py', 'shutil.py']\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
6. shutil.copytree(src,dst)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If we want to copy a complete folder which includes all its files to a new location, we can use copytree(src,dst<\/em>) function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It recursively copies an entire directory tree rooted at src<\/em> to directory named dst<\/em> and returns the destination directory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s copy the folder Python<\/em> to the folder Newfolder<\/em>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note:<\/strong> We have to create a new folder inside our destination folder as the function does not allow copying contents to an already existing folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here, we have created the folder python1<\/em> inside the folder Newfolder<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport os\nimport shutil\n\npath='D:\\DSCracker\\DS Cracker\\Python'\nprint("Source folder:") \nprint(os.listdir(path))\n\nshutil.copytree('Python','NewPython\/python1')\n\npath1='D:\\DSCracker\\DS Cracker\\NewPython\\python1'\nprint("Destination folder:")\nprint(os.listdir(path1))\n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nSource folder:\n['data1.txt', 'data3.txt', 'hey.py', 'nsawk.py', 'shutill.py']\nDestination folder:\n['data1.txt', 'data3.txt', 'hey.py', 'nsawk.py', 'shutill.py']\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
How to remove\/delete files with shutil module?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Now that we’ve learned how we can work with the moving and copying files, let’s learn to remove or delete files from specific locations from within your Python scripts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By using shutil.rmtree()<\/strong>,  we can delete any folder,file or directory. Let’s delete the folder Python<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport os\nimport shutil\n\npath='D:\\DSCracker\\DS Cracker'\nprint("Before deleting:") \nprint(os.listdir(path))\n\nshutil.rmtree('Python')\nprint("After deleting:") \nprint(os.listdir(path))\n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
\nBefore deleting:\n['cs', 'data.txt', 'NewPython', 'program.py', 'Python', 'ReverseArray', 'ReverseArray.cpp']\n\nAfter deleting:\n['cs', 'data.txt', 'NewPython', 'program.py', 'ReverseArray', 'ReverseArray.cpp']\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
How to copy permission bits of one file to another?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Copying file is one part. What if you just want to copy the same permissions of a file to all other files? Let’s learn to do just that using the shutil module here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. shutil.copymode(src,dst)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
This method copies the permission bits from src to dst. Let’s copy permission bits of Python<\/em> directory to Python1<\/em> directory.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\nimport os\nsrc= 'D:\\\\DSCracker\\\\DS Cracker\\\\Python'\ndest='D:\\\\DSCracker\\\\DS Cracker\\\\Python1'\n\nprint("Before using shutil.copymode(), Permission bits of destination:")\nprint(oct(os.stat(dest).st_mode)[-3:])\n\nshutil.copymode(src, dest) \nprint("After using shutil.copymode(), Permission bit of destination:")\nprint(oct(os.stat(dest).st_mode)[-3:])\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
\nBefore using shutil.copymode(), Permission bits of source:\n677\nAfter using shutil.copymode(), Permission bit of destination:\n777\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
2. shutil.copystat(src,dst)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
shutil.copystat(src.dst) copies permission bits along with metadata.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\nimport os\nimport time \n\nsrc= 'D:\\\\DSCracker\\\\DS Cracker\\\\Python'\ndest='D:\\\\DSCracker\\\\DS Cracker\\\\Python1'\n\nprint("Before using shutil.copystat():")\nprint("Permission bits:",oct(os.stat(src).st_mode)[-3:])\nprint("Last modification time:", time.ctime(os.stat(src).st_mtime)) \n\nprint("Modification time:",time.ctime(os.stat(src).st_mtime))\n\nshutil.copystat(src, dest) \n\nprint("After using shutil.copystat():")\nprint("Permission bits:",oct(os.stat(dest).st_mode)[-3:])\nprint("Last modification time:", time.ctime(os.stat(dest).st_mtime)) \nprint("Modification time:",time.ctime(os.stat(dest).st_mtime))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
\nBefore using shutil.copystat():\nPermission bits: 777\nLast modification time: Mon Dec  7 02:20:37 2020\nModification time: Mon Dec  7 02:20:37 2020\n\nAfter using shutil.copystat():\nPermission bits: 777\nLast modification time: Mon Dec  7 03:43:47 2020\nModification time: Mon Dec  7 03:43:47 2020\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Other functions in shutil module<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let’s go over the miscellaneous functions of the shutil module now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. shutil.disk_usage(path)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
shutil.disk_usage(path)<\/em> function returns the disk usage statistics about the given path names as tuple with attributes total<\/em> which is total amount of memory, used<\/em> which is used space and free<\/em> which is free space in bytes.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\nimport os\n\npath = 'D:\\\\DSCracker\\\\DS Cracker\\\\NewPython\\\\python1'\n\nstatistics=shutil.disk_usage(path)\n\nprint(statistics)\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
\nusage(total=1000203087872, used=9557639168, free=990645448704)\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
2. shutil.which()<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
shutil.which()<\/em> function returns the path to an executable application which would run if the given command cmd was called. <\/p>\n\n\n
\nimport shutil\nimport os\n\ncmd='Python'\n\nlocate = shutil.which(cmd) \n\nprint(locate)\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
\nC:\\Users\\AskPython\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps\\Python.EXE\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In this tutorial, we covered how we can copy, remove, and work with other operations on files and folders using the shutil module<\/strong> in python. Hope you all enjoyed it. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
shutil-High-level file operations official docs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey! In this tutorial, we will learn about the functions present in the shutil module of Python. So, let’s get started. Python’s shutil module provides us a number of high-level operations on files. We can copy and remove files and directories. Let’s get started with the module and learn the practical implementation of each of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":11332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-python-modules"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}