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Python Academy · Lesson

shutil for File Operations

Copy, move, and archive files.

What Is shutil?

The shutil (shell utilities) module offers high-level file operations: copying, moving, deleting trees, and creating archives. It builds on os for everyday tasks.

import shutil, os

os.makedirs('/tmp/shutil_demo', exist_ok=True)
with open('/tmp/shutil_demo/a.txt', 'w') as f:
    f.write('hello')
print('created a.txt')

Copying a File

shutil.copy(src, dst) copies a file's contents and permission bits to a new location.

import shutil, os

os.makedirs('/tmp/shutil_demo', exist_ok=True)
with open('/tmp/shutil_demo/src.txt', 'w') as f:
    f.write('data')
shutil.copy('/tmp/shutil_demo/src.txt', '/tmp/shutil_demo/copy.txt')
print(os.path.exists('/tmp/shutil_demo/copy.txt'))

All lessons in this course

  1. Running Commands with subprocess
  2. Capturing Output
  3. Environment and os Module
  4. shutil for File Operations
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