How to use the mv command in Python with subprocess

Question

I have a lot of files in /home/somedir/subdir/ and I'm trying to move them all up to /home/somedir programmatically.

right now I have this:

subprocess.call(["mv", "/home/somedir/subdir/*", "somedir/"])

but it's giving me this error:

mv: cannot stat `/home/somedir/subdir/*': No such file or directory

I know that it does exist because when I type the mv command by hand using the exact same command as the script uses it works perfectly.

possible duplicate of [Calling rm from subprocess using wildcards does not remove the files](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11025784/calling-rm-from-subprocess-using-wildcards-does-not-remove-the-files) — Maxime Lorant, Feb 15 '14 at 23:14
it's close, but imho not a duplicate, as the other is using `Popen` and has a more complex example. — zmo, Feb 15 '14 at 23:15
Well, the problem and solution idea are very close. I've already seen some close votes less obvious than that... — Maxime Lorant, Feb 15 '14 at 23:17
I think it is a dup—it's the same actual problem, with the same actual solution. This question serves as a much better example of the problem, but that doesn't mean it's a different problem. — abarnert, Feb 16 '14 at 00:00

zmo · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-15T23:18:18.460

if you call subprocess that way:

subprocess.call(["mv", "/home/somedir/subdir/*", "somedir/"])

you're actually giving the argument /home/somedir/subdir/* to the mv command, with an actual * file. i.e. you're actually trying to move the * file.

subprocess.call("mv /home/somedir/subdir/* somedir/", shell=True)

it will use the shell that will expand the first argument.

Nota Bene: when using the shell=True argument you need to change your argument list into a string that will be given to the shell.

Hint: You can also use the os.rename() or shutil.move() functions, along with os.path.walk() or os.listdir() to move the files to destination in a more pythonic way.

+2 For Pythonic idiom; otherwise, one may as well use the shell! — jpaugh, Feb 16 '14 at 00:02

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 15 '14 at 23:12

You can solve this by adding the parameter shell=True, to take into account wildcards in your case (and so write the command directly, without any list):

subprocess.call("mv /home/somedir/subdir/* somedir/", shell=True)

Without it, the argument is directly given to the mv command with the asterisk. It's the shell job to return every files which match the pattern in general.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 15 '14 at 23:12

2

You are using shell globbing *, and expecting the mv command to know what it means. You can get the same error from a command shell this way:

$ mv 'somedir/subdir/*' ...

Notice the quotes. The shell usually does glob-matching on * for you, but commands don't do that on their command lines; not even a shell does. There is a C library function called fnmatch that does shell-style globbing for you, which every programming language more or less copies. It might even have the same name in Python. Or it might have the word "glob" in it; I don't remember.

answered Feb 15 '14 at 23:12

jpaugh

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your example does actually work the shell expands inside double quotes, you should use single quotes to make a point. – zmo Feb 15 '14 at 23:14
Oh, that's right. What's really fun is the way (ba)sh handles single quotes inside of double quotes. It can get pretty hairy when you stash it in a var and then try to splice it into a command line! – jpaugh Feb 15 '14 at 23:17

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 19 '19 at 14:43

Here's a simple way to work with subprocess Popen

import subprocess
import os

class FolderCommands:
    src = None
    dst = None

    def __init__(self, src, dst):
        self.src = src
        self.dst = dst

    def move(self):
        listOfFiles = os.listdir(self.src)
        print(listOfFiles)
        modify_src = self.src.replace(" ", "\ ")
        dst = self.dst.replace(" ", "\ ")
        for f in listOfFiles:
            #Attaching the filename at the end of the src path

            fullPath = modify_src + "/'" + f +"'"
            subprocess.Popen("mv" + " " + fullPath + " " + dst, shell=True)

obj = FolderCommands(input("Enter Source path"), input("Enter Destination path"))
obj.move()

While this does escape blanks, there are other characters of concern. Tabs, newlines, and single quotes are all valid characters in filenames and would need special attention. — John1024, Aug 23 '20 at 20:01

How to use the mv command in Python with subprocess

4 Answers4

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