Copy a file from one location to another in Python

Copy a file from one location to another in Python

To copy a file from one location to another in Python, you can use the shutil module, which provides a high-level interface for file operations. The shutil.copy() function is particularly useful for copying files.

Here's a basic example of how to use shutil.copy():

import shutil # Define the source and destination paths source_file = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination_file = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' # Copy the file shutil.copy(source_file, destination_file) print(f"File copied from {source_file} to {destination_file}")

Explanation:

  • shutil.copy(source, destination): This function copies the file at source to destination. If destination is a directory, the file is copied into that directory with the same base filename. If destination is a file path, the file is copied to that path.

Additional Options

  • shutil.copy2(): Similar to shutil.copy(), but also attempts to preserve metadata (such as modification times) of the original file.
import shutil # Copy the file and preserve metadata shutil.copy2(source_file, destination_file)
  • shutil.copyfile(): Copies the contents of the file at source to destination, but does not preserve metadata. It requires that destination is a file path.
import shutil # Copy the file (does not preserve metadata) shutil.copyfile(source_file, destination_file)
  • Handling Exceptions: It's a good practice to handle exceptions that might occur during file operations:
import shutil import os source_file = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination_file = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' try: shutil.copy(source_file, destination_file) print(f"File copied from {source_file} to {destination_file}") except FileNotFoundError: print(f"File not found: {source_file}") except PermissionError: print(f"Permission denied for copying file to {destination_file}") except Exception as e: print(f"An error occurred: {e}")

This ensures that you handle cases where the file might not exist, permissions might be insufficient, or other unexpected errors occur.

Examples

  1. How to copy a file using shutil in Python?

    Description: Use the shutil library to copy a file from one location to another.

    import shutil # Source and destination file paths source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' # Copy the file shutil.copy(source, destination) print(f'File copied from {source} to {destination}')

  2. How to copy a file and preserve metadata using shutil in Python?

    Description: Use shutil.copy2() to copy a file while preserving metadata (such as timestamps).

    import shutil # Source and destination file paths source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' # Copy the file and preserve metadata shutil.copy2(source, destination) print(f'File copied from {source} to {destination} with metadata')

  3. How to copy a file using os module in Python?

    Description: Use the os module with os.system() to perform file copying.

    import os # Source and destination file paths source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' # Copy the file using the 'cp' command os.system(f'cp {source} {destination}') print(f'File copied from {source} to {destination}')

  4. How to copy a file using pathlib in Python?

    Description: Use the pathlib library to copy a file from one location to another.

    from pathlib import Path # Source and destination file paths source = Path('path/to/source/file.txt') destination = Path('path/to/destination/file.txt') # Copy the file destination.write_text(source.read_text()) print(f'File copied from {source} to {destination}')

  5. How to handle exceptions while copying a file in Python?

    Description: Use try-except blocks to handle potential errors when copying files.

    import shutil # Source and destination file paths source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' try: shutil.copy(source, destination) print(f'File copied from {source} to {destination}') except FileNotFoundError: print(f'Error: The file {source} does not exist') except PermissionError: print(f'Error: Permission denied while copying file to {destination}')

  6. How to copy a file and rename it using shutil in Python?

    Description: Use shutil.copy() to copy a file and specify a new name for the destination file.

    import shutil # Source and destination file paths with new name source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/new_file.txt' # Copy the file and rename shutil.copy(source, destination) print(f'File copied from {source} to {destination} with new name')

  7. How to copy all files from one directory to another in Python?

    Description: Use shutil.copy() in a loop to copy all files from one directory to another.

    import shutil import os # Source and destination directories source_dir = 'path/to/source/directory' destination_dir = 'path/to/destination/directory' # Copy all files from source to destination directory for filename in os.listdir(source_dir): source_file = os.path.join(source_dir, filename) destination_file = os.path.join(destination_dir, filename) if os.path.isfile(source_file): shutil.copy(source_file, destination_file) print(f'Copied {source_file} to {destination_file}')

  8. How to copy a file with progress indicator in Python?

    Description: Use tqdm for a progress indicator while copying a file.

    import shutil from tqdm import tqdm def copy_file_with_progress(src, dst): with open(src, 'rb') as fsrc, open(dst, 'wb') as fdst: total_size = os.path.getsize(src) with tqdm(total=total_size, unit='B', unit_scale=True, unit_divisor=1024) as pbar: while True: buf = fsrc.read(1024*1024) # 1 MB buffer if not buf: break fdst.write(buf) pbar.update(len(buf)) # Source and destination file paths source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' # Copy the file with progress copy_file_with_progress(source, destination)

  9. How to copy a file asynchronously using concurrent.futures in Python?

    Description: Use concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor to copy a file asynchronously.

    import shutil from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor def copy_file(src, dst): shutil.copy(src, dst) print(f'File copied from {src} to {dst}') # Source and destination file paths source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' # Copy the file asynchronously with ThreadPoolExecutor() as executor: future = executor.submit(copy_file, source, destination) future.result() # Wait for the copy operation to complete

  10. How to copy a file with specific permissions using shutil in Python?

    Description: Use shutil.copy2() to copy a file and then adjust its permissions.

    import shutil import os import stat # Source and destination file paths source = 'path/to/source/file.txt' destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt' # Copy the file shutil.copy2(source, destination) # Set permissions (e.g., read and write for owner only) os.chmod(destination, stat.S_IRUSR | stat.S_IWUSR) print(f'File copied from {source} to {destination} with permissions set')

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