Creating empty text files with specific names in a directory

Question

I have two directories:

dir = path/to/annotations

and

dir_img = path/to/images

The format of image names in dir_img is image_name.jpg.

I need to create empty text files in dir as: image_name.txt, wherein I can later store annotations corresponding to the images. I am using Python.

I don't know how to proceed. Any help is highly appreciated. Thanks.

[Edit]: I tried the answer given here. It ran without any error but didn't create any files either.

`fp = open('your_file_name', 'w')` and immediately after `fp.close()` will make a 0-sized file — GPhilo, Oct 24 '17 at 08:48
To open or create a file to write you can always use - `with open('/path/to/your_file', 'w+') as yourFile: pass` — aquaman, Oct 24 '17 at 08:59
Possible duplicate of [Create empty file using python](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12654772/create-empty-file-using-python) — GPhilo, Oct 24 '17 at 09:09

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 24 '17 at 09:33

3

This should create empty files for you and then you can proceed further.

import os
for f in os.listdir(source_dir):
    if f.endswith('.jpg'):
        file_path = os.path.join(target_dir, f.replace('.jpg', '.txt'))
        with open(file_path, "w+"):
            pass

edited Oct 24 '17 at 09:33

j_4321

15,431
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answered Oct 24 '17 at 09:19

Sadanand Upase

132
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Pardon me for not knowing the subtleties but isn't this the same answer as @Elias? Anyway, still there is no file created. – Rahul Bohare Oct 24 '17 at 09:25
yes. I should have had a look there. You need to provide more details i think about environment where you are running this script. Is there any error you are getting? Otherwise there is no reason why this script should not work. – Sadanand Upase Oct 24 '17 at 09:32
I am working on Linux 8.5 based OS, Jessie. The code runs without throwing any error. I also checked that I do have write privileges for the `target_dir`. – Rahul Bohare Oct 24 '17 at 09:39
It worked. Turns out the mistake was on my side; I was using incorrect path. Thanks for your help. – Rahul Bohare Oct 24 '17 at 09:50

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 24 '17 at 08:58

You can use the module os to list the existing files, and then just open the file in mode w+ which will create the file even if you're not writing anything into it. Don't forget to close your file!

import os
for f in os.listdir(source_dir):
    if f.endswith('.jpg'):
        open(os.path.join(target_dir, f.replace('.jpg', '.txt')), 'w+').close()

Creating empty text files with specific names in a directory

2 Answers2