Unable to copy or move a file using python shutil

Question

import shutil
import os

source = os.listdir("report")
destination = "archieved"

for files in source:
    if files.endswith(".json"):
        shutil.copy(files, destination)

I have the file named, 'a.json' inside the report folder report/a.json; however, the file is not moved/copied to the target folder

Console Error:

*** FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'a.json'

If "reports" is the path to the directory, the name of the file ought to be "reports/a.json" when given to shutil.copy. — Arndt Jonasson
– Arndt Jonasson, Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 19:27
@Amdt actually, the JSON file used to be created dynamically — Prashanth Sams
– Prashanth Sams, Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 19:38
I don't know what you mean, but if there is a file "a.json" in the same directory as "reports", and a file "reports/a.json", your operation will access the former one, not the latter. Usually, the former one doesn't exist, which is what the program is telling you. — Arndt Jonasson
– Arndt Jonasson, Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 19:40

Pierre · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-09 19:45:08Z

2

os.listdir() returns filenames and not paths. You need to construct the paths from the filenames before calling shutil.copy().

import shutil
import os

source_directory_path = "report"
destination_directory_path = "archived"

for source_filename in os.listdir(source_directory_path):
    if source_filename.endswith(".json"):
        # construct path from filename
        source_file_path = os.path.join(source_directory_path, source_filename)

        shutil.copy(source_file_path, destination_directory_path)

answered Jun 9, 2018 at 19:45

Pierre

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1 Comment

Prashanth Sams Over a year ago

yes, this solved my issue; and I agree with the statement you've mentioned; thanks Pierre

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