Issue with file path when deleting file in Python

Trying to write a small script in Python to delete files, but the os.remove function is having issues with the file path. Note if I comment out os.remove("C:\UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt") it runs fine and will print 'gone'. I don't understand why when assigning the path to the variable it works but os.remove doesn't like the same thing.

import os

import re



search ='test.txt'

path = "C:\UsersThe UserDownloads"





def find(search, path):

    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):

        if search in files:

           return True

        else:

           return False







result = find(search, path)

if(result == False):

    os.remove("C:\UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt")

    print('gone')

Here's the error message:

OSError: [WinError 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect: 'C:UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt'

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:28

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

1

You should return True or False instead of 'yes' and 'no'.

– Jonah Bishop
Nov 26 '18 at 2:06

First of all, please include your actual code. There's a typo in find() that indicates this is not the exact code you are running. Also, please fix your indentation, as it's not clear what you're code is actually doing. Once you've done that, tell us what issues os.remove is having, and please include any errors in your question, in full.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:10

Regardless of my previous comment, find() is not going to work generally because, at best, it will tell you if search is a file somewhere under path, not whether it's in the top-level path directory.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:17

Can you be more specific than "the os.remove function is having issues"? What issues is it having? Is it raising an exception? If so, give us the full traceback (you can format it like code). If the issues are something else (e.g. it's not doing what you expect), you need to explain what it is doing, and what you expect it to do instead.

– Blckknght
Nov 26 '18 at 2:27

I've cleaned it up and changed to true/false. I also added the error message.

– WeVie
Nov 26 '18 at 3:35

add a comment |

import os

import re



search ='test.txt'

path = "C:\UsersThe UserDownloads"





def find(search, path):

    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):

        if search in files:

           return True

        else:

           return False







result = find(search, path)

if(result == False):

    os.remove("C:\UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt")

    print('gone')

Here's the error message:

OSError: [WinError 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect: 'C:UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt'

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:28

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

1

You should return True or False instead of 'yes' and 'no'.

– Jonah Bishop
Nov 26 '18 at 2:06

First of all, please include your actual code. There's a typo in find() that indicates this is not the exact code you are running. Also, please fix your indentation, as it's not clear what you're code is actually doing. Once you've done that, tell us what issues os.remove is having, and please include any errors in your question, in full.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:10

Regardless of my previous comment, find() is not going to work generally because, at best, it will tell you if search is a file somewhere under path, not whether it's in the top-level path directory.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:17

Can you be more specific than "the os.remove function is having issues"? What issues is it having? Is it raising an exception? If so, give us the full traceback (you can format it like code). If the issues are something else (e.g. it's not doing what you expect), you need to explain what it is doing, and what you expect it to do instead.

– Blckknght
Nov 26 '18 at 2:27

I've cleaned it up and changed to true/false. I also added the error message.

– WeVie
Nov 26 '18 at 3:35

add a comment |

import os

import re



search ='test.txt'

path = "C:\UsersThe UserDownloads"





def find(search, path):

    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):

        if search in files:

           return True

        else:

           return False







result = find(search, path)

if(result == False):

    os.remove("C:\UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt")

    print('gone')

Here's the error message:

OSError: [WinError 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect: 'C:UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt'

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:28

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

import os

import re



search ='test.txt'

path = "C:\UsersThe UserDownloads"





def find(search, path):

    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):

        if search in files:

           return True

        else:

           return False







result = find(search, path)

if(result == False):

    os.remove("C:\UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt")

    print('gone')

Here's the error message:

OSError: [WinError 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect: 'C:UsersThe UserDownloadstest.txt'

python filepath delete-file

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:28

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:28

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:28

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

asked Nov 26 '18 at 2:02

WeVie

198418

1

You should return True or False instead of 'yes' and 'no'.

– Jonah Bishop
Nov 26 '18 at 2:06

First of all, please include your actual code. There's a typo in find() that indicates this is not the exact code you are running. Also, please fix your indentation, as it's not clear what you're code is actually doing. Once you've done that, tell us what issues os.remove is having, and please include any errors in your question, in full.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:10

Regardless of my previous comment, find() is not going to work generally because, at best, it will tell you if search is a file somewhere under path, not whether it's in the top-level path directory.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:17

Can you be more specific than "the os.remove function is having issues"? What issues is it having? Is it raising an exception? If so, give us the full traceback (you can format it like code). If the issues are something else (e.g. it's not doing what you expect), you need to explain what it is doing, and what you expect it to do instead.

– Blckknght
Nov 26 '18 at 2:27

I've cleaned it up and changed to true/false. I also added the error message.

– WeVie
Nov 26 '18 at 3:35

add a comment |

1

You should return True or False instead of 'yes' and 'no'.

– Jonah Bishop
Nov 26 '18 at 2:06

First of all, please include your actual code. There's a typo in find() that indicates this is not the exact code you are running. Also, please fix your indentation, as it's not clear what you're code is actually doing. Once you've done that, tell us what issues os.remove is having, and please include any errors in your question, in full.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:10

Regardless of my previous comment, find() is not going to work generally because, at best, it will tell you if search is a file somewhere under path, not whether it's in the top-level path directory.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:17

Can you be more specific than "the os.remove function is having issues"? What issues is it having? Is it raising an exception? If so, give us the full traceback (you can format it like code). If the issues are something else (e.g. it's not doing what you expect), you need to explain what it is doing, and what you expect it to do instead.

– Blckknght
Nov 26 '18 at 2:27

I've cleaned it up and changed to true/false. I also added the error message.

– WeVie
Nov 26 '18 at 3:35

You should return True or False instead of 'yes' and 'no'.

– Jonah Bishop
Nov 26 '18 at 2:06

First of all, please include your actual code. There's a typo in find() that indicates this is not the exact code you are running. Also, please fix your indentation, as it's not clear what you're code is actually doing. Once you've done that, tell us what issues os.remove is having, and please include any errors in your question, in full.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:10

Regardless of my previous comment, find() is not going to work generally because, at best, it will tell you if search is a file somewhere under path, not whether it's in the top-level path directory.

– Cyphase
Nov 26 '18 at 2:17

Can you be more specific than "the os.remove function is having issues"? What issues is it having? Is it raising an exception? If so, give us the full traceback (you can format it like code). If the issues are something else (e.g. it's not doing what you expect), you need to explain what it is doing, and what you expect it to do instead.

– Blckknght
Nov 26 '18 at 2:27

I've cleaned it up and changed to true/false. I also added the error message.

– WeVie
Nov 26 '18 at 3:35

add a comment |

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

I think you should just return the full path of the file to delete, and if the path is not None, then call os.remove(). In your code, you check that search exists in files, but files is a list, and you need to go through and get the matching file to determine its current directory. Then you can get the full path using root, and use that later for deletion.

Demo:

from os import environ

from os import walk

from os import remove

from os.path import join



def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):



        # Go through each file

        for file in files:



            # Check if the file matches the search

            if file == search:



                # return full path

                return join(root, file)



# Get path if any

result = find(search="test.txt", path=join(environ["USERPROFILE"], "Downloads"))



# Only delete file if not None

if result:

    remove(result)

    print('Deleted', result)

You can can also use next() here to make find() shorter:

def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):

        return next((join(root, file) for file in files if file == search), None)

Note: You can use os.path.join(os.environ['USERPROFILE'], 'Downloads') instead of hardcoding C:\UsersThe UserDownloads.

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:36

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

add a comment |

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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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Demo:

from os import environ

from os import walk

from os import remove

from os.path import join



def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):



        # Go through each file

        for file in files:



            # Check if the file matches the search

            if file == search:



                # return full path

                return join(root, file)



# Get path if any

result = find(search="test.txt", path=join(environ["USERPROFILE"], "Downloads"))



# Only delete file if not None

if result:

    remove(result)

    print('Deleted', result)

You can can also use next() here to make find() shorter:

def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):

        return next((join(root, file) for file in files if file == search), None)

Note: You can use os.path.join(os.environ['USERPROFILE'], 'Downloads') instead of hardcoding C:\UsersThe UserDownloads.

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:36

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

add a comment |

Demo:

from os import environ

from os import walk

from os import remove

from os.path import join



def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):



        # Go through each file

        for file in files:



            # Check if the file matches the search

            if file == search:



                # return full path

                return join(root, file)



# Get path if any

result = find(search="test.txt", path=join(environ["USERPROFILE"], "Downloads"))



# Only delete file if not None

if result:

    remove(result)

    print('Deleted', result)

You can can also use next() here to make find() shorter:

def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):

        return next((join(root, file) for file in files if file == search), None)

Note: You can use os.path.join(os.environ['USERPROFILE'], 'Downloads') instead of hardcoding C:\UsersThe UserDownloads.

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:36

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

add a comment |

Demo:

from os import environ

from os import walk

from os import remove

from os.path import join



def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):



        # Go through each file

        for file in files:



            # Check if the file matches the search

            if file == search:



                # return full path

                return join(root, file)



# Get path if any

result = find(search="test.txt", path=join(environ["USERPROFILE"], "Downloads"))



# Only delete file if not None

if result:

    remove(result)

    print('Deleted', result)

You can can also use next() here to make find() shorter:

def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):

        return next((join(root, file) for file in files if file == search), None)

Note: You can use os.path.join(os.environ['USERPROFILE'], 'Downloads') instead of hardcoding C:\UsersThe UserDownloads.

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:36

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

Demo:

from os import environ

from os import walk

from os import remove

from os.path import join



def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):



        # Go through each file

        for file in files:



            # Check if the file matches the search

            if file == search:



                # return full path

                return join(root, file)



# Get path if any

result = find(search="test.txt", path=join(environ["USERPROFILE"], "Downloads"))



# Only delete file if not None

if result:

    remove(result)

    print('Deleted', result)

You can can also use next() here to make find() shorter:

def find(search, path):

    for root, _, files in walk(path):

        return next((join(root, file) for file in files if file == search), None)

Note: You can use os.path.join(os.environ['USERPROFILE'], 'Downloads') instead of hardcoding C:\UsersThe UserDownloads.

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:36

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

edited Nov 26 '18 at 3:36

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

answered Nov 26 '18 at 2:33

RoadRunner

11.3k31441

add a comment |

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