python/zip: How to eliminate absolute path in zip archive if absolute paths for files are provided?

Question

I have two files in two different directories, one is '/home/test/first/first.pdf', the other is '/home/text/second/second.pdf'. I use following code to compress them:

import zipfile, StringIO
buffer = StringIO.StringIO()
first_path = '/home/test/first/first.pdf'
second_path = '/home/text/second/second.pdf'
zip = zipfile.ZipFile(buffer, 'w')
zip.write(first_path)
zip.write(second_path)
zip.close()

After I open the zip file that I created, I have a home folder in it, then there are two sub-folders in it, first and second, then the pdf files. I don't know how to include only two pdf files instead of having full path zipped into the zip archive. I hope I make my question clear, please help. Thanks.

Answer 1

The zipfile write() method supports an extra argument (arcname) which is the archive name to be stored in the zip file, so you would only need to change your code with:

from os.path import basename
...
zip.write(first_path, basename(first_path))
zip.write(second_path, basename(second_path))
zip.close()

When you have some spare time reading the documentation for zipfile will be helpful.