How to delete the contents of a folder in Python?
-
06-07-2019 - |
Question
How can I delete the contents of a local folder in Python?
The current project is for Windows, but I would like to see *nix also.
Solution
Updated to only delete files and to used the os.path.join()
method suggested in the comments. If you also want to remove subdirectories, uncomment the elif
statement.
import os, shutil
folder = '/path/to/folder'
for the_file in os.listdir(folder):
file_path = os.path.join(folder, the_file)
try:
if os.path.isfile(file_path):
os.unlink(file_path)
#elif os.path.isdir(file_path): shutil.rmtree(file_path)
except Exception as e:
print(e)
OTHER TIPS
Try the shutil module
import shutil
shutil.rmtree('/path/to/folder')
Description:
shutil.rmtree(path, ignore_errors=False, onerror=None)
Docstring: Recursively delete a directory tree.
If
ignore_errors
is set, errors are ignored; otherwise, ifonerror
is set, it is called to handle the error with arguments(func, path, exc_info)
wherefunc
isos.listdir
,os.remove
, oros.rmdir
; path is the argument to that function that caused it to fail; andexc_info
is a tuple returned bysys.exc_info()
. Ifignore_errors
is false andonerror
isNone
, an exception is raised.
Important Note: Be aware that shutil.rmtree()
doesn't just delete the contents of the target folder. It deletes the folder itself as well.
You can simply do this :
import os
import glob
files = glob.glob('/YOUR/PATH/*')
for f in files:
os.remove(f)
You can of course use an other filter in you path, for example : /YOU/PATH/*.txt for removing all text files in a directory.
Expanding on mhawke's answer this is what I've implemented. It removes all the content of a folder but not the folder itself. Tested on Linux with files, folders and symbolic links, should work on Windows as well.
import os
import shutil
for root, dirs, files in os.walk('/path/to/folder'):
for f in files:
os.unlink(os.path.join(root, f))
for d in dirs:
shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(root, d))
Using rmtree
and recreating the folder could work, but I have run into errors when deleting and immediately recreating folders on network drives.
The proposed solution using walk does not work as it uses rmtree
to remove folders and then may attempt to use os.unlink
on the files that were previously in those folders. This causes an error.
The posted glob
solution will also attempt to delete non-empty folders, causing errors.
I suggest you use:
folder_path = '/path/to/folder'
for file_object in os.listdir(folder_path):
file_object_path = os.path.join(folder_path, file_object)
if os.path.isfile(file_object_path):
os.unlink(file_object_path)
else:
shutil.rmtree(file_object_path)
This is the only answer so far, which:
- removes all symbolic links
- dead links
- links to directories
- links to files
- removes subdirectories
- does not remove the parent directory
Code:
for filename in os.listdir(dirpath):
filepath = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
try:
shutil.rmtree(filepath)
except OSError:
os.remove(filepath)
As many other answers, this does not try to adjust permissions to enable removal of files/directories.
As a oneliner:
import os
# Python 2.7
map( os.unlink, (os.path.join( mydir,f) for f in os.listdir(mydir)) )
# Python 3+
list( map( os.unlink, (os.path.join( mydir,f) for f in os.listdir(mydir)) ) )
A more robust solution accounting for files and directories as well would be (2.7):
def rm(f):
if os.path.isdir(f): return os.rmdir(f)
if os.path.isfile(f): return os.unlink(f)
raise TypeError, 'must be either file or directory'
map( rm, (os.path.join( mydir,f) for f in os.listdir(mydir)) )
Notes: in case someone down voted my answer, I have something to explain here.
- Everyone likes short 'n' simple answers. However, sometimes the reality is not so simple.
- Back to my answer. I know
shutil.rmtree()
could be used to delete a directory tree. I've used it many times in my own projects. But you must realize that the directory itself will also be deleted byshutil.rmtree()
. While this might be acceptable for some, it's not a valid answer for deleting the contents of a folder (without side effects). - I'll show you an example of the side effects. Suppose that you have a directory with customized owner and mode bits, where there are a lot of contents. Then you delete it with
shutil.rmtree()
and rebuild it withos.mkdir()
. And you'll get an empty directory with default (inherited) owner and mode bits instead. While you might have the privilege to delete the contents and even the directory, you might not be able to set back the original owner and mode bits on the directory (e.g. you're not a superuser). - Finally, be patient and read the code. It's long and ugly (in sight), but proven to be reliable and efficient (in use).
Here's a long and ugly, but reliable and efficient solution.
It resolves a few problems which are not addressed by the other answerers:
- It correctly handles symbolic links, including not calling
shutil.rmtree()
on a symbolic link (which will pass theos.path.isdir()
test if it links to a directory; even the result ofos.walk()
contains symbolic linked directories as well). - It handles read-only files nicely.
Here's the code (the only useful function is clear_dir()
):
import os
import stat
import shutil
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1889597/deleting-directory-in-python
def _remove_readonly(fn, path_, excinfo):
# Handle read-only files and directories
if fn is os.rmdir:
os.chmod(path_, stat.S_IWRITE)
os.rmdir(path_)
elif fn is os.remove:
os.lchmod(path_, stat.S_IWRITE)
os.remove(path_)
def force_remove_file_or_symlink(path_):
try:
os.remove(path_)
except OSError:
os.lchmod(path_, stat.S_IWRITE)
os.remove(path_)
# Code from shutil.rmtree()
def is_regular_dir(path_):
try:
mode = os.lstat(path_).st_mode
except os.error:
mode = 0
return stat.S_ISDIR(mode)
def clear_dir(path_):
if is_regular_dir(path_):
# Given path is a directory, clear its content
for name in os.listdir(path_):
fullpath = os.path.join(path_, name)
if is_regular_dir(fullpath):
shutil.rmtree(fullpath, onerror=_remove_readonly)
else:
force_remove_file_or_symlink(fullpath)
else:
# Given path is a file or a symlink.
# Raise an exception here to avoid accidentally clearing the content
# of a symbolic linked directory.
raise OSError("Cannot call clear_dir() on a symbolic link")
import os
import shutil
# Gather directory contents
contents = [os.path.join(target_dir, i) for i in os.listdir(target_dir)]
# Iterate and remove each item in the appropriate manner
[os.remove(i) if os.path.isfile(i) or os.path.islink(i) else shutil.rmtree(i) for i in contents]
An earlier comment also mentions using os.scandir in Python 3.5+. For example:
import os
import shutil
with os.scandir(target_dir) as entries:
for entry in entries:
if entry.is_file() or entry.is_symlink():
os.remove(entry.path)
elif entry.is_dir():
shutil.rmtree(entry.path)
You might be better off using os.walk()
for this.
os.listdir()
doesn't distinguish files from directories and you will quickly get into trouble trying to unlink these. There is a good example of using os.walk()
to recursively remove a directory here, and hints on how to adapt it to your circumstances.
I used to solve the problem this way:
import shutil
import os
shutil.rmtree(dirpath)
os.mkdir(dirpath)
I konw it's an old thread but I have found something interesting from the official site of python. Just for sharing another idea for removing of all contents in a directory. Because I have some problems of authorization when using shutil.rmtree() and I don't want to remove the directory and recreate it. The address original is http://docs.python.org/2/library/os.html#os.walk. Hope that could help someone.
def emptydir(top):
if(top == '/' or top == "\\"): return
else:
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(top, topdown=False):
for name in files:
os.remove(os.path.join(root, name))
for name in dirs:
os.rmdir(os.path.join(root, name))
Yet Another Solution:
import sh
sh.rm(sh.glob('/path/to/folder/*'))
If you are using a *nix system, why not leverage the system command?
import os
path = 'folder/to/clean'
os.system('rm -rf %s/*' % path)
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the awesome pathlib
to do this job.
If you only want to remove files in a directory it can be a oneliner
from pathlib import Path
[f.unlink() for f in Path("/path/to/folder").glob("*") if f.is_file()]
To also recursively remove directories you can write something like this:
from pathlib import Path
from shutil import rmtree
for path in Path("/path/to/folder").glob("**/*"):
if path.is_file():
path.unlink()
elif path.is_dir():
rmtree(path)
I resolved the issue with rmtree
makedirs
by adding time.sleep()
between:
if os.path.isdir(folder_location):
shutil.rmtree(folder_location)
time.sleep(.5)
os.makedirs(folder_location, 0o777)
Answer for a limited, specific situation: assuming you want to delete the files while maintainig the subfolders tree, you could use a recursive algorithm:
import os
def recursively_remove_files(f):
if os.path.isfile(f):
os.unlink(f)
elif os.path.isdir(f):
map(recursively_remove_files, [os.path.join(f,fi) for fi in os.listdir(f)])
recursively_remove_files(my_directory)
Maybe slightly off-topic, but I think many would find it useful
Assuming temp_dir
to be deleted, a single line command using os
would be:
_ = [os.remove(os.path.join(save_dir,i)) for i in os.listdir(temp_dir)]
Note: This is only a 1-liner for deleting files' Doesn't delete directories.
Hope this helps. Thanks.
Use the method bellow to remove the contents of a directory, not the directory itself:
import os
import shutil
def remove_contents(path):
for c in os.listdir(path):
full_path = os.path.join(path, c)
if os.path.isfile(full_path):
os.remove(full_path)
else:
shutil.rmtree(full_path)
Simply do this. This will delete all the files inside directory as well as from sub-directories also. Without harming any folder/directory. Works well on Ubuntu without any errors.
import os
mypath = "my_folder" #Enter your path here
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(mypath):
for file in files:
os.remove(os.path.join(root, file))
This should do the trick just using the OS module to list and then remove!
import os
DIR = os.list('Folder')
for i in range(len(DIR)):
os.remove('Folder'+chr(92)+i)
Worked for me, any problems let me know!