PermissionError: [Errno 13] in Python

Question

Just starting to learn some Python and I'm having an issue as stated below:

a_file = open('E:\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\Test', encoding='utf-8')

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#9>", line 1, in <module>
    a_file = open('E:\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\Test', encoding='utf-8')
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'E:\\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\\Test\

Seems to be a file permission error, if any one can shine some light it would be greatly appreciated.

NOTE: not sure how Python and Windows files work but I'm logged in to Windows as Admin and the folder has admin permissions.

I have tried changing .exe properties to run as Admin.

@JoachimIsaksson It's definitely a folder, as we can see in the end of the error line. Make that an answer. — Oleh Prypin, Nov 03 '12 at 08:35
Test is a folder, the Document im following reads i can open a text doc using the following syntax a_file = open('E:\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\Test\a.txt', encoding='utf-8') using this syntax aswell as a_file = open('E:\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\Test', encoding='utf-8') gives me the same error. — BenniMcBeno, Nov 03 '12 at 08:39
By the way, remember to use raw strings for Windows pathnames, or you'll get bitten badly if a subfolder name should happen to start with `n` or `b` or any other letter that can be part of an escape sequence... — Tim Pietzcker, Nov 03 '12 at 08:40
ok so the file was on a flash drive and the flash driver was FAT32 and my HD is NTFS so it was format conflicts >< doing it locally works fine, thanks guys — BenniMcBeno, Nov 03 '12 at 08:46
@BenniMcBeno raw strings are strings prefixed with r, thus: r'C:\Temp' is equivalent to 'C:\\Temp' the first is referred to as a raw string, so no escaping characters is necessary. — Alan, Apr 03 '18 at 02:11

score 90 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 03 '12 at 08:49

When doing;

a_file = open('E:\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\Test', encoding='utf-8')

...you're trying to open a directory as a file, which may (and on most non UNIX file systems will) fail.

Your other example though;

a_file = open('E:\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\Test\a.txt', encoding='utf-8')

should work well if you just have the permission on a.txt. You may want to use a raw (r-prefixed) string though, to make sure your path does not contain any escape characters like \n that will be translated to special characters.

a_file = open(r'E:\Python Win7-64-AMD 3.3\Test\a.txt', encoding='utf-8')

score 40 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 24 '19 at 16:20

40

For me, I was writing to a file that is opened in Excel.

answered Sep 24 '19 at 16:20

Kai Wang

3,303
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score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 20 '21 at 12:16

For me, I got this error when I was trying to write a file to a folder and wanted to make sure the folder existed. I accidentally used:

path = Path("path/to/my/file.txt")
path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
with open(path, "w") as file:
    ...

but the second line means "make a directory at this exact path (and make its parents too, without throwing errors for them existing already)". The third line then throws a PermissionError, because you can't use open() on a directory path, of course! The second line should have been:

path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 04 '20 at 19:37

0

I encountered this problem when I accidentally tried running my python module through the command prompt while my working directory was C:\Windows\System32 instead of the usual directory from which I run my python module

answered Oct 04 '20 at 19:37

Toldry

485
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4
13

PermissionError: [Errno 13] in Python

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