Python: If filename in specified path contains string, then move to folder

Question

New to python here. I would like to create a script that will scan my directory and if the filename contains a certain string in it, then it will automatically move to a folder of my choice. Have tried this, but to no luck:

import os
import shutil
import fnmatch
import glob

ffe_path = 'E:/FFE'
new_path = 'E:/FFE/Membership/letters'
keyword = 'membership'


os.chdir('E:/FFE/Membership')
os.mkdir('letters')



source_dir = 'E:/FFE'
dest_dir = 'E:/FFE/Membership/letters'

os.chdir(source_dir)

for top, dirs, files in os.walk(source_dir):
    for filename in files:
        if not filename.endswith('.docx'):
            continue
        file_path = os.path.join(top, filename)
        with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
            if '*membership' in f.read():
                shutil.move(file_path, os.path.join(dest_dir, filename))

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Haha that was likely pulled from my research online and got mixed up with looking in the file and reading merely just the filename. No, I just mean to scan the filenames in the directory. — patriciajlim, May 05 '20 at 18:46

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered May 05 '20 at 19:12

A simple function will do the trick:

def copyCertainFiles(source_folder, dest_folder, string_to_match, file_type=None):
    # Check all files in source_folder
    for filename in os.listdir(source_folder):
        # Move the file if the filename contains the string to match
        if file_type == None:
            if string_to_match in filename:
                shutil.move(os.path.join(source_folder, filename), dest_folder)

        # Check if the keyword and the file type both match
        elif isinstance(file_type, str):
            if string_to_match in filename and file_type in filename:
                shutil.move(os.path.join(source_folder, filename), dest_folder)

source_folder = full/relative path of source folder

dest_folder = full/relative path of destination folder (will need to be created beforehand)

string_to_match = a string basis which the files will be copied

file_type (optional) = if only a particular file type should be moved.

You can, of course make this function even better, by having arguments for ignoring case, automatically creating a destination folder if it does not exist, copying all files of a particular filetype if no keyword is specified and so on. Furthermore, you can also use regexes to match filetypes, which will be far more flexible.

Thanks. The script moves files with exact match to the string, but does not work on filenames that are a partial match (containing the string among other words). I am getting this error. [1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y8VgV.png — patriciajlim, May 07 '20 at 01:12
Are your folder paths correct? I use linux, but I'm quite sure that Windows file paths do not have both forward and back slashes (see E:/FFE\Membership) — agastya, May 07 '20 at 06:23

xilpex · Answer 2 · 2020-05-05T18:52:12.527

1

f.read reads the file. You most likely don't want to see if the string is in a file's contents. I fixed your code to look in the file's name:

import os
import shutil
import fnmatch
import glob

ffe_path = 'E:/FFE'
new_path = 'E:/FFE/Membership/letters'
keyword = 'membership'


os.chdir('E:/FFE/Membership')
os.mkdir('letters')



source_dir = 'E:/FFE'
dest_dir = 'E:/FFE/Membership/letters'

os.chdir(source_dir)

for top, dirs, files in os.walk(source_dir):
    for filename in files:
        if not filename.endswith('.docx'):
            continue
        file_path = os.path.join(top, filename)
        if '*membership' in filename:
            shutil.move(file_path, os.path.join(dest_dir, filename))

edited May 05 '20 at 18:52

answered May 05 '20 at 18:40

xilpex

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Is it a different function/method if the keyword is bunched in the filename? Ie. 2019_0120_Memberslist – patriciajlim May 05 '20 at 18:51
@patriciajlim -- I'm not sure I understood your question. – xilpex May 05 '20 at 18:51
I suspect that he just wants to scan for `'membership'` in the `filename`, not the `filepath`, which also means that you can move the line that creates the `filepath` inside the last `if`. – Glenn Mackintosh May 05 '20 at 18:51
@GlennMackintosh -- Yes, I fixed that. – xilpex May 05 '20 at 18:52
Edit: The code works. Not moving my files containing 'membership'... I feel that I am missing something in my script. – patriciajlim May 05 '20 at 19:02

Python: If filename in specified path contains string, then move to folder

2 Answers2