Renaming files inside a zip file

Question

I am trying to write a python script to rename files (containing a predefined string with another predefined string). How do I rename files and folders in a zip file, without extracting the zip file (as it could be very large)?

import os
import zipfile
old_name="ABCD"
new_name="XYZ"

for d,s,files in os.walk(path):
 for f in files:
   if f.startswith(old_name) and f.endswith('.zip'):
     with zipfile.ZipFile(f,'a') as zf:
       for files_inside_zip in zf.namelist():
        if files_inside_zip.startswith(old_name):
          ## Now I need to rename only this particular file
          ## some files are larger than 1 GB
          ## and contains 1000+ files
          ## so extracting all doest seems to be a good idea

     zf.close

Please show us some code, what you already did and what error you are getting. SO is not a place where you drop your request and others solve it for your. — codedge, May 02 '20 at 10:16
Duplicate of [rename files in zip folder using zipmodule](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7428318/rename-files-in-zip-folder-using-zipmodule) — Jongware, May 02 '20 at 10:27

score -1 · Answer 1 · answered May 02 '20 at 10:16

There is no way of modifying a zipped archive without extracting it, in Python. One way I can think of that may solve your problem, assuming that you are on linux, is to execute a bash script in Python, that uses vim to transparently edit the archive:

Sources:
Modifying zip file in python: overwriting file in ziparchive
Executing bash script from python: Running bash script from within python
Edit zip archive with vim: https://superuser.com/questions/647674/is-there-a-way-to-edit-files-inside-of-a-zip-file-without-explicitly-extracting

Renaming files inside a zip file

1 Answers1