How do I copy a file in Python?

python file copy filesystems file-copying
Matt picture Matt · Sep 23, 2008 · Viewed 2.2M times · Source

How do I copy a file in Python?

I couldn't find anything under os.

Answer

Swati picture Swati · Sep 23, 2008

shutil has many methods you can use. One of which is:

from shutil import copyfile
copyfile(src, dst)
  • Copy the contents of the file named src to a file named dst.
  • The destination location must be writable; otherwise, an IOError exception will be raised.
  • If dst already exists, it will be replaced.
  • Special files such as character or block devices and pipes cannot be copied with this function.
  • With copy, src and dst are path names given as strings.

If you use os.path operations, use copy rather than copyfile. copyfile will only accept strings.

Related questions

How to copy a file to a specific folder in a Python script?

I have the path of a file stored in a variable (say) filePath. I would like to copy that particular file to another specific folder within a Python script. I tried folderPath = (os.getcwd() + "/folder_name/") #to get the path …

Read More
Copy multiple files in Python

How to copy all the files present in one directory to another directory using Python. I have the source path and the destination path as string.

Read More
python copy files to a network location on Windows without mapping a drive

I am running python in a non interactive session on windows and therefore I cannot map a network drive. Most of what I have researched on here and through google everyone suggests mapping a network drive and copying the files …

Read More