12. shutil module

status:In progress

The shutil module contains functions for operating on files. You might have noticed that os module also contains a function for renaming or moving files, (os.rename). Generally, you should use shutil.move instead, because it is more robust/complete than os.rename.

12.1. Quick start

You can use the function shutil.move() to rename a file:

>>> import shutil
>>> shutil.move("server.log", "server.log.backup")
>>> shutil.move("image.png", "/home/user/")

and shutil.copy() to copy a file:

>>> shutil.copy("image.png", "/home/user/")

it contains aliases to the module os and sys and collections:

>>> import shutil
>>> shutil.os

If you want to delete a non-empty directory, use shutil.rmtree() (with cautious).

12.2. todo

shutil.abspath
shutil.ignore_patterns
shutil.stat
shutil.fnmatch
shutil.copy2
shutil.copyfile
shutil.copyfileobj
shutil.copymode
shutil.copystat
shutil.getgrnam
shutil.copytree
shutil.getpwnam
shutil.Error
shutil.ExecError
shutil.make_archive
shutil.SpecialFileError
shutil.WindowsError
shutil.errno
shutil.register_archive_format
shutil.get_archive_formats
shutil.unregister_archive_format