Python: use copy file command - how it works
This Python guide shows how you can use the copy file command in Python to copy a file. Using a simple example, you can easily do it yourself.
Use copy file command in Python
With the copy file command in Python, files can be easily copied:
- Add the "from shutil import copyfile" command (without quotation marks) to the beginning of your code so that you can use the command afterwards.
- The command syntax is "copyfile (src, dst)". So just insert the values you need for your program.
- An example of this would be: "copyfile ('/ src / dir / file.txt', '/dst/dir/file_with_new_name.txt')".
- As you can see, you can not only copy your file, but also change the name of the file in the target directory.
- Tip: You can also use "/ dst / dir /" instead of "/dst/dir/file_with_new_name.txt" in the command. This copies the file with the original file name and stores it in the target directory.
Python: Copy file - other options
To copy a file in Python, we introduced the shutil method in the previous paragraph. However, you can also copy a file without the shutil module:
- First of all you have to add the command "import os" to the top of your code.
- Under Windows you can now copy a file with the command "os.system ('copy D: /test.txt F: /')".
- With Linux you have to use the command "os.system ('cp /home/user/test.txt / tmp /')".
- In both cases, a copy command is executed. You can also write other commands between the brackets that are then executed in the terminal or in CMD.
More tips about Python in our CHIP guides
Tip: You can find further programming tutorials on our Python programming language topic page. For example, we will show you how to create and use arrays in Python.