Then we can use is_dir() function to differentiate between a file and a directory. The pathlib module is available in Python 3.4 and above. To delete a single file, use pathlib.Path.unlink(), os.remove(). Path objects from the Python 3.4+ pathlib module also expose these instance methods: pathlib.Path.unlink() removes a file or symbolic link. In this post, we will see how to remove all files from a directory. The os module in Python provides some easy to use methods using which we can delete or remove a file as well as an empty directory. If you want to use this module in Python 2 you can install it with pip. import pathlib def delete_folder(pth) : for sub in pth.iterdir() : if sub.is_dir() : delete_folder(sub) else : sub.unlink() pth.rmdir() # if you just want to delete dir content, remove this line where pth is a pathlib.Path instance. Path is the core object to work with files. 1. os.rmdir() #deletes a directory and all its contents. os.remove() #removes an empty directory. As of Python 3.4+, you can also use pathlib as follows: The following sections describe how to delete files and directories that you no longer need. Sometimes you may want to delete an entire folder as well: import os os.rmdir("foldername") What options are available? os.remove() removes a file. os.rmdir() removes an empty directory. – Florian Brucker Jan 24 '12 at 11:11 Let’s look into some examples of using pathlib module. $ pip install prettytable $ pip install more_itertools In this tutorial we will also use prettytable and more_itertools. The pathlib is a Python module which provides an object API for working with files and directories. The pathlib is a standard module. Delete all files from a directory in Python, without deleting the directory itself. Nice, but may not be the fastest. Look at the below-given code carefully: We can use Path iterdir() function to iterate over the files in a directory. For Python 3, to remove the file and directory individually, use the unlink and rmdir Path object methods respectively:. Using the os module. In previous post, we have discussed how to remove a file in Python using the os.remove(), os.unlink(), and pathlib.Path.unlink() functions. or os.unlink(). .bashrc). pathlib provides an object-oriented interface for working with filesystem paths for different operating systems.. To delete a file with thepathlib module, create a Path object pointing to the file and call the unlink() method on the object: You can delete single files, directories, and entire directory trees using the methods found in the os, shutil, and pathlib modules. Deleting Files in Python. shutil.rmtree() Using Pathlib as an alternative. #removes a file. os.path.splitext returns an empty extension for these, but using rsplit will treat the whole filename as an extension. import pathlib def delete_folder(pth) : for sub in pth.iterdir() : if sub.is_dir() : delete_folder(sub) else : sub.unlink() pth.rmdir() # if you just want to delete the dir content but not the dir itself, remove this line where pth is a pathlib.Path instance. Nice, but may not be the fastest. Delete a File. Let us take a look at the different methods using which we can delete files in Python. shutil.rmtree() deletes a directory and all its contents. Path.lchmod(mode)¶ Like Path.chmod() but, if the path points to a symbolic link, the symbolic link’s mode is changed rather than its target’s.. Path.lstat()¶ Like Path.stat() but, if the path points to a symbolic link, return the symbolic link’s information rather than its target’s.. Path.mkdir(mode=0o777, parents=False)¶ Create a new directory at this given path. 1. Methods to Delete Files in Python. Remove the file "demofile.txt": import os os.remove("demofile.txt") Check if File exist: To avoid getting an error, you might want to check if the file exists before you try to delete it: List Subdirectories and Files inside a Directory. Note that using rsplit will result in different results for files which start with a dot and have no other extension (like hidden files on Linux, e.g. from pathlib import Path dir_path = Path.home() / 'directory' file_path = dir_path / 'file' file_path.unlink() # remove file dir_path.rmdir() # remove directory To delete a file, you must import the OS module, and run its os.remove() function: Example. How do I delete a file or folder in Python? 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