Delete a directory or file using Python

Python provides different methods and functions for removing files and directories. One can remove the file according to their need.

Using os.remove()

OS module in Python provides functions for interacting with the operating system. All functions in os module raise OSError in the case of invalid or inaccessible file names and paths, or other arguments that have the correct type, but are not accepted by the operating system.

os.remove() method in Python is used to remove or delete a file path. This method can not remove or delete a directory. If the specified path is a directory then OSError will be raised by the method.

Syntax: os.remove(path, *, dir_fd = None)

Parameter:
path: A path-like object representing a file path. A path-like object is either a string or bytes object representing a path.
dir_fd (optional): A file descriptor referring to a directory. The default value of this parameter is None.
If the specified path is absolute then dir_fd is ignored.

Note: The ‘*’ in parameter list indicates that all following parameters (Here in our case ‘dir_fd’) are keyword-only parameters and they can be provided using their name, not as positional parameter.

Return Type: This method does not return any value.

Example 1: Suppose the file contained in the folder are:
python-os.remove

We want to delete the file1 from the above folder. Below is the implementation.

# Python program to explain os.remove() method  
     
# importing os module  
import os 
   
# File name 
file = 'file1.txt'
   
# File location 
location = "D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Authors/Nikhil/"
   
# Path 
path = os.path.join(location, file) 
   
# Remove the file 
# 'file.txt' 
os.remove(path) 

Output:
python-os.remove

Example 2: If the specified path is a directory.

# Python program to explain os.remove() method  
     
# importing os module  
import os 
   
# Directory name
dir = "Nikhil"
 
# Path 
location = "D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Authors/"
path = os.path.join(location, dir)
   
# Remove the specified 
# file path 
os.remove(path) 
print("% s has been removed successfully" % dir) 
   
# if the specified path  
# is a directory then  
# 'IsADirectoryError' error 
# will raised  
   
# Similarly if the specified 
# file path does not exists or   
# is invalid then corresponding 
# OSError will be raised 

Output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "osremove.py", line 11, in 
    os.remove(path)
IsADirectoryError: [Errno 21] Is a directory: 'D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Authors/Nikhil'

Example 3: Handling error while using os.remove() method.

# Python program to explain os.remove() method  
     
# importing os module  
import os 
   
# path 
path = 'D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Authors/Nikhil'
   
# Remove the specified  
# file path 
try: 
    os.remove(path) 
    print("% s removed successfully" % path) 
except OSError as error: 
    print(error) 
    print("File path can not be removed") 

Output:

[Errno 21] Is a directory: 'D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Authors/Nikhil'
File path can not be removed

Note: To know more about os.remove() click here.

Using os.rmdir()

os.rmdir() method in Python is used to remove or delete a empty directory. OSError will be raised if the specified path is not an empty directory.

Syntax: os.rmdir(path, *, dir_fd = None)

Parameter:
path: A path-like object representing a file path. A path-like object is either a string or bytes object representing a path.
dir_fd (optional): A file descriptor referring to a directory. The default value of this parameter is None.
If the specified path is absolute then dir_fd is ignored.

Note: The ‘*’ in parameter list indicates that all following parameters (Here in our case ‘dir_fd’) are keyword-only parameters and they can be provided using their name, not as positional parameter.

Return Type: This method does not return any value.

Example 1: Suppose the directories are –

python-os.rmdir

We want to remove the directory Geeks. Below is the implementation.

# Python program to explain os.rmdir() method  
     
# importing os module  
import os 
   
# Directory name 
directory = "Geeks"
   
# Parent Directory 
parent = "D:/Pycharm projects/"
   
# Path 
path = os.path.join(parent, directory) 
   
# Remove the Directory 
# "Geeks" 
os.rmdir(path) 

Output:

python-os.rmdir

Example 2: Handling errors while using os.rmdir() method,

# Python program to explain os.rmdir() method
 
# importing os module  
import os
 
# Directory name 
directory = "GeeksforGeeks"
 
# Parent Directory 
parent = "D:/Pycharm projects/"
 
# Path 
path = os.path.join(parent, directory)
 
# Remove the Directory
# "GeeksforGeeks"
try:
    os.rmdir(path)
    print("Directory '% s' has been removed successfully" % directory)
except OSError as error:
    print(error)
    print("Directory '% s' can not be removed" % directory)
 
# if the specified path
# is not an empty directory 
# then permission error will 
# be raised 
 
# similarly if specified path 
# is invalid or is not a  
# directory then corresponding 
# OSError will be raised 

Output:

[WinError 145] The directory is not empty: 'D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks'
Directory 'GeeksforGeeks' can not be removed

Note: To know more about os.rmdir() click here.

Using shutil.rmtree()

shutil.rmtree() is used to delete an entire directory tree, path must point to a directory (but not a symbolic link to a directory).

Syntax: shutil.rmtree(path, ignore_errors=False, onerror=None)

Parameters:
path: A path-like object representing a file path. A path-like object is either a string or bytes object representing a path.
ignore_errors: If ignore_errors is true, errors resulting from failed removals will be ignored.
oneerror: If ignore_errors is false or omitted, such errors are handled by calling a handler specified by onerror.

Example 1: Suppose the directory and sub-directories are as follow.

# Parent directory:
python-shutil.rmtree

# Directory inside parent directory:
python-shutil.rmtree

# File inside the sub-directory:
python-shutil.rmtree

We want to remove the directory Authors. Below is the implementation.

# Python program to demonstrate
# shutil.rmtree()
 
import shutil
import os
 
# location
location = "D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/"
 
# directory
dir = "Authors"
 
# path
path = os.path.join(location, dir)
 
# removing directory
shutil.rmtree(path)

Output:

python-shutil.rmtree

Example 2: By passing ignore_errors = True.

# Python program to demonstrate
# shutil.rmtree()
 
import shutil
import os
 
# location
location = "D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/"
 
# directory
dir = "Authors"
 
# path
path = os.path.join(location, dir)
 
# removing directory
shutil.rmtree(path, ignore_errors = False)
 
# making ignore_errors = True will not raise 
# a FileNotFoundError

Output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File “D:/Pycharm projects/gfg/gfg.py”, line 16, in
shutil.rmtree(path, ignore_errors=False)
File “C:\Users\Nikhil Aggarwal\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\shutil.py”, line 730, in rmtree
return _rmtree_unsafe(path, onerror)
File “C:\Users\Nikhil Aggarwal\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\shutil.py”, line 589, in _rmtree_unsafe
onerror(os.scandir, path, sys.exc_info())
File “C:\Users\Nikhil Aggarwal\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\shutil.py”, line 586, in _rmtree_unsafe
with os.scandir(path) as scandir_it:
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 3] The system cannot find the path specified: ‘D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Authors’

Example 3: By passing onerror
In onerror a function should be passed which must contain three parameters.

function – function which raised the exception.
path – path name passed which raised the exception while removal
excinfo – exception info raised by sys.exc_info()

Below is the implementation

# Python program to demonstrate
# shutil.rmtree()
 
import shutil
import os
 
 
# exception handler
def handler(func, path, exc_info):
    print("Inside handler")
    print(exc_info)
 
 
# location
location = "D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/"
 
# directory
dir = "Authors"
 
# path
path = os.path.join(location, dir)
 
# removing directory
shutil.rmtree(path, onerror = handler)

Output:

Inside handler
(<class ‘filenotfounderror’=””>, FileNotFoundError(2, ‘The system cannot find the path specified’), )
Inside handler
(<class ‘filenotfounderror’=””>, FileNotFoundError(2, ‘The system cannot find the file specified’), )

Last Updated on November 13, 2021 by admin

Delete a directory or file using Python