Python Programming for Biology: Bioinformatics and Beyond

The ‘

shutil

’ module

The  shutil  module  is  used  to  manipulate  whole  files,  providing  functionality  that  is  not

present in os.

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Method (shutil.)

Description

copyfileobj(srcOb,

dstOb[,

chunkSize])

Copies the contents of one open file object to another,

optionally specifying the number of byte ‘chunks’ to buffer

while copying.

copyfile(source,

dest)

Copies the data contained in a file from one path to another

full file path (not just a directory name). Does not copy

permissions, access times etc.

copymode(source,

dest)

Copies read, write and execute permissions from a source

path (e.g. file or a directory) to a destination path.

copystat(source,

dest)

Copies the permissions and access/modification/creation

times from a source path to a destination path.

copy(source, dest)

Copies a file from one path to a destination file path or

directory. If the destination is a directory then the source file

name will be used. File permissions will be copied, but not

access time etc.

copy2(source,

dest)

Like copy() above, but will copy

access/modification/creation times.

copytree(source,

dest, symlinks,

ignore)

Copies the contents of an entire directory tree recursively to

a destination directory. Options to also copy symbolic links

and callable argument that can be used to exclude items.

rmtree(path,

errorIgnore, func)

Deletes an entire directory tree recursively. Options to ignore

any errors and a callable argument to use in the event of an

error.

move(source,

dest)

Moves a file or directory (recursively) from one path to

another.