Renaming file in same directory using Python

Question

So I'm trying to iterate through a list of files that are within a subfolder named eachjpgfile and change the file from doc to the subfolder eachjpgfile mantaining the file's name but when I do this it adds the file to directory before eachjpgfile rather than keeping it in it. Looking at the code below, can you see why is it doing this and how can I keep it in the eachjpgfile directory?

Here is the code:

for eachjpgfile in filelist:
    os.chdir(eachjpgfile)
    newdirectorypath = os.curdir
    list_of_files = os.listdir(newdirectorypath)
    for eachfile in list_of_files:
         onlyfilename = os.path.splitext(eachfile)[0]
         if onlyfilename == 'doc':
            newjpgfilename = eachfile.replace(onlyfilename,eachjpgfile)
            os.rename(eachfile, newjpgfilename)

This will be much clearer if you use os.walk instead of reinventing this particular kind of wheel... — krlmlr
– krlmlr, Commented May 14, 2012 at 23:12
That was my silly way of changing the current directory to a new directory called eachjpgfile — wilbev
– wilbev, Commented May 14, 2012 at 23:12
Yes, I'm sure there is a better way. I didn't add my zipfile code here but basically I'm extracting this doc file into a new directory with the same name as zip file and trying to rename this doc file also to that same name but keep it in it's original directory. — wilbev
– wilbev, Commented May 14, 2012 at 23:24

Queequeg · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-15 00:14:34Z

1

There is a lot of weird stuff going on in here, but I think the one that's causing your particular issue is using 'eachjpgfile' in 'eachfile.replace'.
From what I can tell, the 'eachjpgfile' you're passing in is a full-path, so you're replacing 'doc' in the filename with '/full/path/to/eachjpgfile', which puts it parallel to the 'eachjpgfile' directory regardless of your current working directory.

You could add a line to split the path/file names prior to the replace:

for eachjpgfile in filelist:
    os.chdir(eachjpgfile)
    newdirectorypath = os.curdir
    list_of_files = os.listdir(newdirectorypath)
    for eachfile in list_of_files:
         onlyfilename = os.path.splitext(eachfile)[0]
         if onlyfilename == 'doc':
            root, pathName= os.path.split(eachjpgfile) #split out dir name
            newjpgfilename = eachfile.replace(onlyfilename,pathName)
            os.rename(eachfile, newjpgfilename)

which is a very dirty fix for a very dirty script. :)

answered May 15, 2012 at 0:14

Queequeg

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wilbev Over a year ago

That worked, thanks. Yes, it's very dirty but it does work now. I probably should try to clean it up but very much a beginner and I'm sure it shows.

lenik · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-14 23:58:40Z

1

try this:

import os

path = '.'
recursive = False   # do not descent into subdirs

for root,dirs,files in os.walk( path ) :
    for name in files :
        new_name = name.replace( 'aaa', 'bbb' )

        if name != new_name :
            print name, "->", new_name
            os.rename( os.path.join( root, name),
                   os.path.join( root, new_name ) )

    if not recursive :
        break

answered May 14, 2012 at 23:58

lenik

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1 Comment

wilbev Over a year ago

thanks for the answer. Using the os.walk is I'm sure a much better route here. I will consider this for cleaning up my code.

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