Create dir with datetime name and subfiles within directory (Python)

Question

I'm currently looking to create a directory on Linux using Python v2.7 with the directory name as the date and time (ie. 27-10-2011 23:00:01). My code for this is below:-

import time
import os

dirfmt = "/root/%4d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d"
dirname = dirfmt % time.localtime()[0:6]
os.mkdir(dirname)

This code works fine and generates the directory as requested. Nonetheless, what I'd also like to then is, within this directory create two csv files and a log file with the same name. Now as the directory name is dynamically generated, I'm unsure as to how to move into this directory to create these files. I'd like the directory together with the three files to all have the same name (csv files will be prefixed with a letter). So for example, given the above, I'd like a directory created called "27-10-2011 23:00:01" and then within this, two csv files called "a27-10-2011 23:00:01.csv" and "b27-10-2011 23:00:01.csv" and a log file called "27-10-2011 23:00:01.log".

My code for the file creations is as below:-

csvafmt = "a%4d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d.csv"
csvbfmt = "b%4d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d.csv"
logfmt = "%4d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d.log"

csvafile = csvafmt % time.localtime()[0:6]
csvbfile = csvbfmt % time.localtime()[0:6]
logfile = logfmt % time.localtime()[0:6]

fcsva = open(csvafile, 'wb')
fcsvb = open(csvbfile, 'wb')
flog = open(logfile, 'wb')

Any suggestions how I can do this so that the second remains the same throughout? I appreciate this code would only take a split second to run but within that time, the second may change. I assume the key to this lies within altering "time.localtime" but I remain unsure.

Thanks

Andrew Clark · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-27T23:24:26.073

2

Sure, just save the time in a variable and then use that variable for the substitutions:

now = time.localtime()[0:6]
dirname = dirfmt % now
csvafile = os.path.join(dirname, csvafmt % now)
csvbfile = os.path.join(dirname, csvbfmt % now)
logfile = os.path.join(dirname, logfmt % now)

Edited to include creating the complete path to your csv and log files.

edited Oct 27 '11 at 23:24

answered Oct 27 '11 at 23:10

Andrew Clark

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Thanks. What about creating these files within the created directory? How can I edit for example "logfmt" so it contains the path to the created directory? – thefragileomen Oct 27 '11 at 23:14
@thefragileomen - Edited my answer so that you will get full paths for your csv and log files. – Andrew Clark Oct 27 '11 at 23:25
Appreciated. Thanks. Worked a treat. – thefragileomen Oct 27 '11 at 23:46
1

No problem, you can accept my solution as the one that worked by clicking the outline of the check mark next to the answer. – Andrew Clark Oct 27 '11 at 23:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 27 '11 at 23:09

0

Only call time.localtime once.

current_time = time.localtime()[0:6]

csvafile = csvafmt % current_time 
csvbfile = csvbfmt % current_time 
logfile = logfmt % current_time

answered Oct 27 '11 at 23:09

Peter Graham

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Thanks. What about creating these files within the created directory? How can I edit for example "logfmt" so it contains the path to the created directory? – thefragileomen Oct 27 '11 at 23:15

Create dir with datetime name and subfiles within directory (Python)

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