Copy files in folder up one directory in python

Question

I have a folder with a few files that I would like to copy one directory up (this folder also has some files that I don't want to copy). I know there is the os.chdir("..") command to move me to the directory. However, I'm not sure how to copy those files I need into this directory. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE:

This is what I have now:

from shutil import copytree, ignore_patterns

copytree("/Users/aaron/Desktop/test/", "/Users/aaron/Desktop/", ignore=ignore_patterns('*.py', '*.txt'))

I am getting the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "update.py", line 61, in <module>
    copytree("/Users/aaron/Desktop/test/", "/Users/aaron/Desktop/", ignore=ignore_patterns('*.py', '*.txt'))
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/shutil.py", line 146, in copytree
    os.makedirs(dst)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/os.py", line 157, in makedirs
    mkdir(name, mode)
OSError: [Errno 17] File exists: '/Users/aaron/Desktop/'

possible duplicate of How do I copy a file in python?

Felix Kling
– Felix Kling

2010-06-01 16:51:52 +00:00
Commented Jun 1, 2010 at 16:51 — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Jun 1, 2010 at 16:51

Chinmay Kanchi · Accepted Answer · 2010-06-01 22:36:23Z

9

The shutil module can do this, specifically the copyfile, copy, copy2 and copytree functions. http://docs.python.org/library/shutil.html

You probably want something along these lines:

import os
import shutil

fileList = os.listdir('path/to/source_dir')
fileList = ['path/to/source_dir/'+filename for filename in fileList]

for f in fileList:
    shutil.copy2(f, 'path/to/dest_dir/')

You can of course filter some file names out during the call to os.listdir(). For example,

fileList = [filename for filename in os.listdir('path/to/source_dir') if filename[-3] is '.txt']

instead of fileList = os.listdir('path/to/source_dir') to get just the .txt files

edited Jun 1, 2010 at 22:36

answered Jun 1, 2010 at 16:53

Chinmay Kanchi

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5 Comments

Aaron Over a year ago

I took your advice and tried using copytree. For some reason, I'm getting an error when I try to run it. Please see what I added under my question. Thank you,Aaron

Kevin Horn Over a year ago

copytree requires that the destination directory not already exist.

Aaron Over a year ago

For the example you gave, would I need to do this for each filename? I see on line 5 you add the filename. Since I have 5 files that need to be copied how would that work.

Chinmay Kanchi Over a year ago

Yes, this will work for any number of files... That's what the for loops are for...

Aaron Over a year ago

Ok, so all I need to do is input the path to the source dir and destination. And it will pull all the files in the source directory?

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