Move and replace if same file name already exists?

Question

Here is below code which will move and replace individual file:

import shutil
import os
src = 'scrFolder'
dst = './dstFolder/'
filelist = []

files = os.listdir( src )
for filename in files:
    filelist.append(filename)
    fullpath = src + '/' + filename
    shutil.move(fullpath, dst)

If I execute same command and moving file which already existed in dst folder, I am getting shutil.Error: Destination path './dstFolder/file.txt' already exists. How to do move and replace if same file name already exists?

Special case of [Python - Move and overwrite files and folders - Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7419665/python-move-and-overwrite-files-and-folders) in which this only cover files. — user202729, Mar 30 '23 at 00:38

score 155 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 04 '15 at 16:10

155

If you specify the full path to the destination (not just the directory) then shutil.move will overwrite any existing file:

shutil.move(os.path.join(src, filename), os.path.join(dst, filename))

answered Aug 04 '15 at 16:10

ecatmur

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6

does this work as well on a network drive, i have a full path to the file but it's not overriting, exiting with "File Exists" – user1767754 Jun 07 '16 at 18:07
@user1767754 I'd only expect that to happen if the source is a symbolic link. Perhaps you could ask a follow-up question? – ecatmur Jun 07 '16 at 18:28
23

@ecatmur I independently tested the same thing. 1. if the destination directory has the source filename already and you do `shutil.move(src_filename, dst_dirname)` an error is raised `Error: Destination path 'dst_dirname/src_filename' already exists`. 2. HOWEVER if you do `dst_filename = os.path.join(dst_dirname, os.path.basename(src_filename)); shutil.move(src_filename, dst_filename)` --> then you don't get an exception raised. – Trevor Boyd Smith Aug 11 '17 at 11:31
how can I modify this when I want to delete the old files and save the new one @ecatmur – ak3191 Nov 13 '18 at 14:23
@ak3191 overwrite means deleting the old file and having new one. – Timo May 07 '21 at 19:16
1

You don't need to specify the full path. If the filename is included in the destination path (relative or absolute) shutil will overwrite. – B. Bogart Jun 17 '21 at 20:46
8

this looks a bit voodoo to me — why should there be different semantics for absolute and relative paths? this breaks the [least surprise principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment) that python is so proudly following. I was expecting something like `exist_ok=True`, similar to what `mkdir()` does. – ccpizza Sep 28 '21 at 15:35
4

@TrevorBoydSmith, python3.6 reports the destination existing error, but it works fine wih Python 3.9.7. – Fisher Dec 08 '21 at 09:34
1

Not happy with this solution. If you have a different python version or other circumstances this will fail. - Not downvoting this as it could still be helpful for some prototype script – Matthias Herrmann Mar 22 '22 at 08:24
@B.Bogart is right- you just need to include the filename in the dest path – grantr Mar 27 '22 at 06:00
I suspect this is inefficient because according to the function documentation it will * first attempt to use `move`, then if it fails (it does) then * it will use `copy` then delete the source. And copying is definitely slower than moving. – user202729 Mar 30 '23 at 00:28

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 12 '19 at 16:49

I got it to overwrite by providing a full path for both source and target in the move command... remember to add double slash for Windows paths.

# this is to change directories (type your own)
os.chdir("C:\REPORTS\DAILY_REPORTS")

# current dir  (to verify)
cwd = os.getcwd() 
src = cwd
dst = cwd + '\\XLS_BACKUP\\'

shutil.move(os.path.join(src, file), os.path.join(dst, file))

# nice and short.

Move and replace if same file name already exists?

2 Answers2

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