Delete a file or folder in Python
David Y.
—The Problem
How do I delete a file or folder in Python?
The Solution
We can use functions from Python’s built-in os module to delete files and empty folders.
os.remove()will delete a file.os.rmdir()will delete an empty folder.
To delete a folder that is not empty, we must use the rmtree() function from Python’s shutil module.
For example:
import os, shutil os.remove("unwanted-file.txt") os.rmdir("empty-dir") shutil.rmtree("nonempty-dir")
Note that these functions will throw errors if the file or directory to be deleted does not exist. We can avoid this by using os.path.isfile() and os.path.isdir() to test for their existence before attempting the deletion:
import os, shutil if os.path.isfile("unwanted-file.txt"): os.remove("unwanted-file.txt") if os.path.isdir("empty-dir"): os.rmdir("empty-dir") if os.path.isdir("nonempty-dir"): shutil.rmtree("nonempty-dir")
Further Reading
If you’re looking to get a deeper understanding of how Python application monitoring works, take a look at the following articles:
- Sentry BlogPython Performance Testing: A Comprehensive Guide
- Syntax.fmListen to the Syntax Podcast
- Sentry BlogLogging in Python: A Developer’s Guide
- Listen to the Syntax Podcast
![Syntax.fm logo]()
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