Download file with urlretrieve() to subfolder

Question

Is it possible to use urlretrieve() in order to download something into a subfolder without expressing it in an absolute but relative manner? For example:

urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, '/downloads/2017/foo.txt')

Everytime I add a path to the filename python throws following error:

File "C:\Program Files\Python36\lib\urllib\request.py", line 258, in urlretrieve tfp = open(filename, 'wb') FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/downloads/2017/foo.txt'

But when I use this code:

urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, 'foo.txt')

it happily downloads the file.

I think I am missing something basic here, but after searching the interwebs for quite a while I haven't found an answer yet. Does anyone know how relative filepaths should be expressed in the urlretrieve() method?

Remove the leading slash -- use `'downloads/2017/foo.txt'`. The leading slash is telling your computer to go to the root of the filesystem (i.e. to `C:\\`). To have a path relative to your current directory, you don't start with a slash. — Hayden Schiff, Sep 25 '17 at 20:30
@HaydenSchiff Still the same error. I even tried using double backslashes and I get the same error. — technical_difficulty, Sep 25 '17 at 20:30
Do the folders "downloads" and "2017" already exist in the directory you're running this script from? — Hayden Schiff, Sep 25 '17 at 20:32
@HaydenSchiff Actually, they don't. I misspelled the folders. Thanks for pointing me into the right direction! — technical_difficulty, Sep 25 '17 at 20:35

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 30 '17 at 22:59

When using urllib.request.urlretrieve(), you need to make sure that, if you want to save the file somewhere else than the program's location, the folders you are referencing already exist. Alternatively you can use the following code to generate the folders you need if they do not exist:

for i in directories:
    if not os.path.isdir(i):
        os.makedirs(i)

Check for spelling mistakes if you still get a FileNotFoundError.

Download file with urlretrieve() to subfolder

1 Answers1