Remove file in python with absolute path: error "no such file or directory" but file exists

Question

I'm trying to remove a file in Python 3 on Linux (RHEL) the following way:

os.remove(or.getcwd() + '/file.txt')

(sorry not allowed to publish the real paths).

and it gives me the usual error

No such file or directory: '/path/to/file/file.txt'

(I've respected slash or antislash in the path)

What is strange is that when I just ls the file (by copy pasting, so the very same path) the file does exist.

I've read this post but i'm not on Windows and slash direction seems correct.

Any idea ?

EDIT: as suggested by @DominicPrice os.system('ls') is showing the file while os.listdir() does not show it (but shows other files in the same directory)

EDIT 2: So my issue was due a a bad usage of os.popen. I used this method to copy file but did not wait for the subprocess to be terminated. So my understanding is that the file was not copied yet when I tried to delete it.

You have to either provide the absolute path of the `file.txt` or ensure the script runs in the same directory as where that file is — Grajdeanu Alex, Nov 26 '21 at 09:11
FYI pythons pathlib module makes working with paths much easier. — jkr, Nov 26 '21 at 09:19
Can you confirm that the file path emitted in the error text is an absolute path? — , Nov 26 '21 at 09:20
@DominicPrice indeed the file does not appear in `os.listdir()`. Actually several files that are in the directory (checked through the linux shell) do not appear neither. I thought it might be a problem of permissions but all files have the same owener and at least have read permission — Guillaume Petitjean, Nov 26 '21 at 09:24
Perhaps your code changed the current working directory - if so that's a bad habit which can cause all sorts of confusion like this, much better to leave current working directory unchanged. — DisappointedByUnaccountableMod, Nov 26 '21 at 09:35
yes but the path is displayed in the error message and I check that this path exists — Guillaume Petitjean, Nov 26 '21 at 09:37
How about if you run `os.system("ls")`, does it show up then? Maybe try run python with `sudo` anyway just to double check if that helps? But I'm afraid I don't think I know enough about how RHEL works to really help you, sorry. — Dominic Price, Nov 26 '21 at 09:41
@DominicPrice interesting `os.system('ls'))` is indeed showing the file — Guillaume Petitjean, Nov 26 '21 at 09:44
It might be done to the way I copy files in the current directory. I do it using `os.popen('cp ...')` but it this create a process there might be a synchro issue ? — Guillaume Petitjean, Nov 26 '21 at 09:55
I replaced the copy `os.popen('cp...')` by `os.system('cp...')` and the problem disappear (file appears in os.listdir and is removed properly) — Guillaume Petitjean, Nov 26 '21 at 09:58
Ok I think I see the problem, gimme a few clock cycles and I'll put an answer — Dominic Price, Nov 26 '21 at 10:22

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 26 '21 at 10:27

The problem is that, as you have explained in the comments, you are creating the file using os.popen("cp ..."). This works asynchronously, so it may not have had time to complete by the time you call os.remove(). You can force python to wait for it to finish by calling the close method:

proc = os.popen("cp myfile myotherfile")
proc.close() # wait for process to finish
os.remove("myotherfile") # we're all good

I would highly recommend staying away from using os.popen in favour of the subprocess library, which has a run function which is way safer to use.

For the specific functions of copying a file, an even better (and cross platform) solution is to use the shutil library:

import shutil
shutil.copyfile("myfile", "myotherfile")

Yes exactly. Using os.system is equivalent to os.popen + wait for process to finish — Guillaume Petitjean, Nov 26 '21 at 11:12

score -2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 26 '21 at 09:16

-2

you should use os.path.dirname(__file__). this is an inbuilt function of os module in python. you can read more here. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/find-path-to-the-given-file-using-python/

answered Nov 26 '21 at 09:16

Vasu saini

21
6

This may or may not be what OP wants. This will return the containing folder for the script, which may be different from the current working directory. Point being, you're answering a different question than the one in the original post, so you may want to clarify that for completeness. This seems more like it should've been a comment, though. – frippe Nov 26 '21 at 09:27
don't understand how it solves anything. I know the path of the file, it is the current directory – Guillaume Petitjean Nov 26 '21 at 09:39

Remove file in python with absolute path: error "no such file or directory" but file exists

2 Answers2