How I Built a Screenshot Mover With Python

#python #programming #cli #tutorial

Automating File Organisation With Python: A File Mover Script

Introduction

As part of my Python Web Development Career Track with CodingNomads, I wrote a Python script to move screenshots into a new directory in a given directory. This moves .png files from a general directory into a new subdirectory, automating file management.

This project uses the pathlib module, to implement path manipulation, iteration, conditional logic, and basic filesystem operations with Python.

This article provides a project walkthrough, including:

Project requirements
Details when implementing code
A walkthrough with explanations
Lessons learnt
Potential project improvements

Project Concept

This script solves the problem of managing mixed file types in a single directory. This is because manually sorting files by their type can be tedious, especially when managing larger volumes.

Key Features

A base directory containing multiple file types (.pdf, .txt, .png)
A new subdirectory, png_files, is created for storing .png files
The script iterates through the files in the base directory, only moving .png files
Other file types remain unmoved

This approach uses path manipulation, conditional filtering, and file operations via Python's pathlib module.

Project Structure

The file tree for this project is below:

.
├── mover.py
└── moving_files
├── example.pdf
├── example.txt
└── png_files
├── example_one.png
├── example_three.png
└── example_two.png

mover.py: the main project script
moving_files: the directory containing the files to be processed
png_files: the destination subdirectory for .png files

Implementation

This project was built using a single Python script. The following sections describe its implementation.

1.Importing Dependencies

import pathlib
from pathlib import Path

This uses the pathlib module to provide an object-oriented interface for filesystem paths. This uses Path objects for path construction, iteration, and manipulation.

2.Defining the Target Directory

folder_directory = pathlib.Path('/Users/francescapanteli/Desktop/CodingNomads-python-101/codingnomads/projects/mover')

folder_directory specifies the directory of the files to be moved. Using Path objects for this allows for cross-platform path handling.

3.Subdirectory Initialisation

new_folder = folder_directory / "png_files"
new_folder.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

This section of the code creates a subdirectory called png_files, to store the .png files in the previously specified directory. The parameter exist_ok=True prevents the generation of an error that shows if this directory already exists. This ensures that the script can be run multiple times without generating the error.

4.Iterating and Filtering Files

for file in folder_directory.iterdir():
    if file.suffix == ".png":
        new_file_path = new_folder / file.name
        file.rename(new_file_path)

folder_directory.iterdir() iterates over all files in the directory
file.suffix checks the file extension
.png files are moved to the png_files subdirectory using file.rename(new_file_path)
This ensures that other file types (.pdf, .txt, etc.) remain unmoved

Example Code Implementation

Before running the script, the moving_files directory contains mixed file types. After executing mover.py, all .png files are moved into the png_files directory. This automation removes the need to manually move these files.

Lessons Learnt

This project uses the following Python concepts:

Pathlib and Path Objects: to navigate and manipulate file paths
Iteration: looping over directory contents using iterdir()
Conditional Logic: selecting files based on their extension
File Operations: moving files by using the rename() method
Automation: applying Python scripts to automate repetitive tasks

Potential Improvements

The script can be extended in several ways:

Command-line Arguments: using argparse, to allow dynamic directory and file type input
Error Handling: adding checks for missing directories, permission issues, or filename conflicts
Logging: maintaining a record of moved files
Multiple File Types: extending functionality to organise .pdf, .txt, .jpg, etc