Delete some csv files from FTP Server using ftplib

Question

I am trying to delete some csv files from a ftp server. Uses ftplib library. The files are not getting deleted from the server. I have read-write access to the server. No error messages even showing. I have around 20 files to delete, I can printout the filenames successfully as well.

 dir_files = []  # to store all files in the root
 try:
     ftp = ftplib.FTP(os.environ.get("TIENKANG_HOST"))  # port is 21 by default
     ftp.login(
         user=os.environ.get("TIENKANG_USER"), passwd=os.environ.get("TIENKANG_PASS")
     )
     ftp.encoding = "unicode_escape"
     ftp.dir(dir_files.append)
     for file_info in dir_files:
         if "DATA_collection" in file_info:
             if filename not in file_info:
                 old_filename = file_info.split(" ")[-1]
                 if old_filename[-3:] == "csv":
                     # data can be exported to db if necessary before removing
                     # print(old_filename)
                     ftp.delete(old_filename)
 except Exception as e:
     print(e)
 finally:
     ftp.quit()

My files are in root of the server. below given how I sort out filenames. (unfortunately ftp.nlst leads to error)

FileZilla root folder view:

How I sort out filename:

you can use software WinSCP to access to ftp server and there you can delete it very easily! @kalaLokia — michi, Feb 03 '22 at 07:28
Actually, I can delete it through Filezilla also. But the above is a part of my code, that will execute on every Sunday to clean old files. I want this to automatic as well using python only — kalaLokia, Feb 03 '22 at 08:01
Hey maybe have look at this answers here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/111954/using-pythons-ftplib-to-get-a-directory-listing-portably — Legit007, Feb 03 '22 at 08:16

kalaLokia · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-12T04:46:42.157

I had to use ftp.encoding = "unicode_escape" , to get all filenames in the ftp server. Without changing the encoding I gets error since there is machine related files exist in the ftp server that is not in standard unicode encoding.

So, before deleting I changed encoding back to ftp.encoding = "utf-8" and all went prefectly.

Solution will be as follows,

 dir_files = []  
 try:
     ftp = ftplib.FTP(os.environ.get("TIENKANG_HOST"))  # port is 21 by default
     ftp.login(
         user=os.environ.get("TIENKANG_USER"), passwd=os.environ.get("TIENKANG_PASS")
     )
     ftp.encoding = "unicode_escape"
     ftp.dir(dir_files.append)
     # Set encoding to utf-8, so the file can be found to delete
     ftp.encoding = "utf-8"
     for file_info in dir_files:
         if "DATA_collection" in file_info:
             if filename not in file_info:
                 old_filename = file_info.split(" ")[-1]
                 if old_filename[-3:] == "csv":
                     # data can be exported to db if necessary before removing
                     ftp.delete(old_filename)
 except Exception as e:
     print(e)
 finally:
     ftp.quit()

Delete some csv files from FTP Server using ftplib

1 Answers1