Shutil
shutil is a Python standard-library module providing high-level operations for copying, moving, archiving, and managing files and directories.
Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming, Second Edition
shutil is a Python standard-library module that provides high-level operations for copying, moving, archiving, and managing files and directories.
- How it is used
- Automates copying files into a combined directory while preserving originals and excluding duplicate pictures.
- How deep it goes
- Descends from importing shutil to implementing nested merge functions, but defers broader file-management operations.
- Examples
- Uses pictures1, pictures2, pictures_combined, PNG files, and a make_copy function as concrete artifacts.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch by writing a tested duplicate-free file-copying tool with Python’s built-in modules.
Read how Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming, Second Edition explains shutil →
The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition
shutil is a Python standard-library module providing high-level operations on files and collections of files.
- How it is used
- Handles moving files and copying or removing directory trees during filesystem tasks.
- How deep it goes
- Explains the principal tree operations and demonstrates a file move, but defers detailed API usage to standard-library documentation.
- Examples
- Demonstrates a backup script that totals non-symlink `.test` files and moves them with shutil.move.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via shutil.move, shutil.copytree, or shutil.rmtree to move files, copy directory trees, or remove nonempty trees.
Read how The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition explains shutil →
Related concepts
- copyhas part · Copying is the creation of a separate representation of an existing value, object, or data, preserving some or all of its contents or state.
- modulekind of · A module is a distinct, bounded software unit that groups related code or functionality and provides an organizational or interaction boundary within a larger system.
- shutil.copyhas part · A Python function that copies a file to a destination while preserving the file's contents and basic metadata where supported.
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