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\section{\module{shutil} ---
High-level file operations}
\declaremodule{standard}{shutil}
\modulesynopsis{High-level file operations, including copying.}
\sectionauthor{Fred L. Drake, Jr.}{fdrake@acm.org}
% partly based on the docstrings
The \module{shutil} module offers a number of high-level operations on
files and collections of files. In particular, functions are provided
which support file copying and removal.
\index{file!copying}
\index{copying files}
\strong{Caveat:} On MacOS, the resource fork and other metadata are
not used. For file copies, this means that resources will be lost and
file type and creator codes will not be correct.
\begin{funcdesc}{copyfile}{src, dst}
Copy the contents of the file named \var{src} to a file named
\var{dst}. If \var{dst} exists, it will be replaced, otherwise it
will be created.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{copyfileobj}{fsrc, fdst\optional{, length}}
Copy the contents of the file-like object \var{fsrc} to the
file-like object \var{fdst}. The integer \var{length}, if given,
is the buffer size. In particular, a negative \var{length} value
means to copy the data without looping over the source data in
chunks; by default the data is read in chunks to avoid uncontrolled
memory consumption.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{copymode}{src, dst}
Copy the permission bits from \var{src} to \var{dst}. The file
contents, owner, and group are unaffected.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{copystat}{src, dst}
Copy the permission bits, last access time, and last modification
time from \var{src} to \var{dst}. The file contents, owner, and
group are unaffected.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{copy}{src, dst}
Copy the file \var{src} to the file or directory \var{dst}. If
\var{dst} is a directory, a file with the same basename as \var{src}
is created (or overwritten) in the directory specified. Permission
bits are copied.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{copy2}{src, dst}
Similar to \function{copy()}, but last access time and last
modification time are copied as well. This is similar to the
\UNIX{} command \program{cp} \programopt{-p}.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{copytree}{src, dst\optional{, symlinks}}
Recursively copy an entire directory tree rooted at \var{src}. The
destination directory, named by \var{dst}, must not already exist;
it will be created. Individual files are copied using
\function{copy2()}. If \var{symlinks} is true, symbolic links in
the source tree are represented as symbolic links in the new tree;
if false or omitted, the contents of the linked files are copied to
the new tree. Errors are reported to standard output.
The source code for this should be considered an example rather than
a tool.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{rmtree}{path\optional{, ignore_errors\optional{, onerror}}}
\index{directory!deleting}
Delete an entire directory tree. If \var{ignore_errors} is true,
errors will be ignored; if false or omitted, errors are handled by
calling a handler specified by \var{onerror} or raise an exception.
If \var{onerror} is provided, it must be a callable that accepts
three parameters: \var{function}, \var{path}, and \var{excinfo}.
The first parameter, \var{function}, is the function which raised
the exception; it will be \function{os.remove()} or
\function{os.rmdir()}. The second parameter, \var{path}, will be
the path name passed to \var{function}. The third parameter,
\var{excinfo}, will be the exception information return by
\function{sys.exc_info()}. Exceptions raised by \var{onerror} will
not be caught.
\end{funcdesc}
\subsection{Example \label{shutil-example}}
This example is the implementation of the \function{copytree()}
function, described above, with the docstring omitted. It
demonstrates many of the other functions provided by this module.
\begin{verbatim}
def copytree(src, dst, symlinks=0):
names = os.listdir(src)
os.mkdir(dst)
for name in names:
srcname = os.path.join(src, name)
dstname = os.path.join(dst, name)
try:
if symlinks and os.path.islink(srcname):
linkto = os.readlink(srcname)
os.symlink(linkto, dstname)
elif os.path.isdir(srcname):
copytree(srcname, dstname)
else:
copy2(srcname, dstname)
# XXX What about devices, sockets etc.?
except (IOError, os.error), why:
print "Can't copy %s to %s: %s" % (`srcname`, `dstname`, str(why))
\end{verbatim}