How to move a file in Python?
PythonFileFile HandlingPython OsPython Problem Overview
How would I do the equivalent of mv src/* dest/
in Python?
>>> source_files = '/PATH/TO/FOLDER/*'
>>> destination_folder = 'PATH/TO/FOLDER'
>>> # equivalent of $ mv source_files destination_folder
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
os.rename()
, os.replace()
, or shutil.move()
All employ the same syntax:
import os
import shutil
os.rename("path/to/current/file.foo", "path/to/new/destination/for/file.foo")
os.replace("path/to/current/file.foo", "path/to/new/destination/for/file.foo")
shutil.move("path/to/current/file.foo", "path/to/new/destination/for/file.foo")
Note that you must include the file name (file.foo
) in both the source and destination arguments. If it is changed, the file will be renamed as well as moved.
Note also that in the first two cases the directory in which the new file is being created must already exist. On Windows, a file with that name must not exist or an exception will be raised, but os.replace()
will silently replace a file even in that occurrence.
As has been noted in comments on other answers, shutil.move
simply calls os.rename
in most cases. However, if the destination is on a different disk than the source, it will instead copy and then delete the source file.
Solution 2 - Python
Although os.rename()
and shutil.move()
will both rename files, the command that is closest to the Unix mv command is shutil.move()
. The difference is that os.rename()
doesn't work if the source and destination are on different disks, while shutil.move()
is files disk agnostic.
Solution 3 - Python
After Python 3.4, you can also use pathlib
's class Path
to move file.
from pathlib import Path
Path("path/to/current/file.foo").rename("path/to/new/destination/for/file.foo")
https://docs.python.org/3.4/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.rename
Solution 4 - Python
For either the os.rename or shutil.move you will need to import the module. No * character is necessary to get all the files moved.
We have a folder at /opt/awesome called source with one file named awesome.txt.
in /opt/awesome
○ → ls
source
○ → ls source
awesome.txt
python
>>> source = '/opt/awesome/source'
>>> destination = '/opt/awesome/destination'
>>> import os
>>> os.rename(source, destination)
>>> os.listdir('/opt/awesome')
['destination']
We used os.listdir to see that the folder name in fact changed. Here's the shutil moving the destination back to source.
>>> import shutil
>>> shutil.move(destination, source)
>>> os.listdir('/opt/awesome/source')
['awesome.txt']
This time I checked inside the source folder to be sure the awesome.txt file I created exists. It is there :)
Now we have moved a folder and its files from a source to a destination and back again.
Solution 5 - Python
This is what I'm using at the moment:
import os, shutil
path = "/volume1/Users/Transfer/"
moveto = "/volume1/Users/Drive_Transfer/"
files = os.listdir(path)
files.sort()
for f in files:
src = path+f
dst = moveto+f
shutil.move(src,dst)
Now fully functional. Hope this helps you.
Edit:
I've turned this into a function, that accepts a source and destination directory, making the destination folder if it doesn't exist, and moves the files. Also allows for filtering of the src files, for example if you only want to move images, then you use the pattern '*.jpg'
, by default, it moves everything in the directory
import os, shutil, pathlib, fnmatch
def move_dir(src: str, dst: str, pattern: str = '*'):
if not os.path.isdir(dst):
pathlib.Path(dst).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
for f in fnmatch.filter(os.listdir(src), pattern):
shutil.move(os.path.join(src, f), os.path.join(dst, f))
Solution 6 - Python
The accepted answer is not the right one, because the question is not about renaming a file into a file, but moving many files into a directory. shutil.move
will do the work, but for this purpose os.rename
is useless (as stated on comments) because destination must have an explicit file name.
Solution 7 - Python
Also possible with using subprocess.run()
method.
python:
>>> import subprocess
>>> new = "/path/to/destination"
>>> old = "/path/to/new/destination"
>>> process = "mv ..{} ..{}".format(old,new)
>>> subprocess.run(process, shell=True) # do not remember, assign shell value to True.
This will work fine when working on Linux. Windows probably gives error since there is no mv Command.
Solution 8 - Python
Based on the answer described here, using subprocess
is another option.
Something like this:
subprocess.call("mv %s %s" % (source_files, destination_folder), shell=True)
I am curious to know the pro's and con's of this method compared to shutil
. Since in my case I am already using subprocess
for other reasons and it seems to work I am inclined to stick with it.
This is dependent on the shell you are running your script in. The mv
command is for most Linux shells (bash, sh, etc.), but would also work in a terminal like Git Bash on Windows. For other terminals you would have to change mv
to an alternate command.
Solution 9 - Python
This is solution, which does not enables shell
using mv
.
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, STDOUT
source = "path/to/current/file.foo",
destination = "path/to/new/destination/for/file.foo"
p = Popen(["mv", "-v", source, destination], stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT)
output, _ = p.communicate()
output = output.strip().decode("utf-8")
if p.returncode:
print(f"E: {output}")
else:
print(output)
Solution 10 - Python
import os,shutil
current_path = "" ## source path
new_path = "" ## destination path
os.chdir(current_path)
for files in os.listdir():
os.rename(files, new_path+'{}'.format(f))
shutil.move(files, new_path+'{}'.format(f)) ## to move files from
different disk ex. C: --> D: