why can't python unzip a password protected zip file created by winrar using the zip method?

python zip zipfile
wookie picture wookie · Aug 16, 2014 · Viewed 29k times · Source

I have searched the web high and low but still couldn't find a solution for the above problem. Does anyone out there know why and if so how it can be done?

psw="dg"

ZipFile.extractall("data.zip", None, psw)

The error that I've got:

TypeError: unbound method extractall() must be called
with ZipFile instance as first argument (got str instance instead)

Answer

Bruno Gelb picture Bruno Gelb · Aug 16, 2014

Because you are using it wrong. :) From docs:

ZipFile.extractall([path[, members[, pwd]]])

Extract all members from the archive to the current working directory. path specifies a different directory to extract to. members is optional and must be a subset of the list returned by namelist(). pwd is the password used for encrypted files.

So you should call that this function for ZipFile object, not as static method. And you should not pass name of archive as a first argument. :)

this way it'll work:

from zipfile import ZipFile

with ZipFile('data.zip') as zf:
    zf.extractall(pwd='dg'

EDIT, in newer versions use: 

zf.extractall(pwd=b'dg')

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