Is there a way of using to_csv("xxx.csv") in Python without overwriting an existing file?
In other words, if I ran to_csv("xxx.csv") twice in succession, I would like to have 2 output files in my folder, not one.
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MRHarv
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2Use `mode='a+'` – cs95 Jan 09 '19 at 15:27
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can't you tell it to use the append method? – SuperStew Jan 09 '19 at 15:27
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@MRHarv , you need to provide the details what do you want to do. – Karn Kumar Jan 09 '19 at 15:31
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1Possible duplicate of [How to add pandas data to an existing csv file?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17530542/how-to-add-pandas-data-to-an-existing-csv-file) – d_kennetz Jan 09 '19 at 15:33
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@d_kennetz, thats is Exactly duplicate . – Karn Kumar Jan 09 '19 at 15:35
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`mode='a+' ` does not solve this. – MRHarv Jan 09 '19 at 15:41
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This is not a duplicate question. I do not want to add data to an existing file, I want a separate file created that does not overwrite the existing one. – MRHarv Jan 09 '19 at 15:47
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You cannot have 2 files by the same name in the same location. – Mayank Porwal Jan 09 '19 at 15:52
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In order to have two different files, you need to give them two different names. There is no way around this, and it makes sense and is usually enforced at the OS level.
You can try it yourself by trying to create two files with the same name via the terminal or a GUI.
saq7
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I was hoping the second time I ran `to_csv("xxx.csv")` , the file gets named as xxx(1).csv instead of overwriting, but I guess it is just not possible. Thanks. – MRHarv Jan 09 '19 at 15:50
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It is possible, you have to tell python to do that though. It does not do it inherently because that is generally not desired behavior. – d_kennetz Jan 09 '19 at 15:51
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Change the file path like `/data/location_1/myfile.csv` and next time `/data/location_2/myfile.csv` then you have same file name! – Karn Kumar Jan 09 '19 at 15:59
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There is no way to "tell" python other than giving it a new name string everytime it is called. You'd also need to keep track of the number of times it's been called to append the number to the end – saq7 Jan 09 '19 at 19:30
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Answering my own question for the benefit of other users. I am running a monthly process and so the only way to not overwrite files is to use .format() within the file name.
e.g. .to_csv("xxx{}.csv".format(a), index=False), where a increases by 1 each month, so there is no overwriting involved.
MRHarv
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So you are appending a number`(1,2,3)` at the end of `xxx`. So, this is NOT HAVING the same file name anymore. – Mayank Porwal Jan 09 '19 at 16:16
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