«

It doesn’t seem to mention in the documentation for os.walk
<http://docs.python.org/library/os.html> that symlinks to directories are
returned in the list of directories, not the list of files. This will lead
to an error in the os.rmdir call in the example directory-deletion routine
on that page.

This version fixes that problem.

def delete_dir(dir) :
"""deletes dir and all its contents."""
if os.path.isdir(dir) :
for parent, dirs, files in os.walk(dir, topdown = False) :
for item in files :
os.remove(os.path.join(parent, item))
#end for
for item in dirs :
item = os.path.join(parent, item)
(os.rmdir, os.remove)[os.path.islink(item)](item)
#end for
#end for
os.rmdir(dir)
#end if
#end delete_dir

Two comments:

1) Should delete_dir not be called instead of os.rmdir in this line

(os.rmdir, os.remove)[os.path.islink(item)](item)

2) Function rmtree in the shutil module considers symlinks to a
directory an error <http://docs.python.org/library/shutil.html#module-
shutil> since Python 2.6.

/Jean


On Apr 26, 2:09*am, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-
central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
> It doesn’t seem to mention in the documentation for os.walk
> <http://docs.python.org/library/os.html> that symlinks to directories are
> returned in the list of directories, not the list of files. This will lead
> to an error in the os.rmdir call in the example directory-deletion routine
> on that page.
>
> This version fixes that problem.
>
> def delete_dir(dir) :
> * * """deletes dir and all its contents."""
> * * if os.path.isdir(dir) :
> * * * * for parent, dirs, files in os.walk(dir, topdown = False) :
> * * * * * * for item in files :
> * * * * * * * * os.remove(os.path.join(parent, item))
> * * * * * * #end for
> * * * * * * for item in dirs :
> * * * * * * * * item = os.path.join(parent, item)
> * * * * * * * * (os.rmdir, os.remove)[os.path.islink(item)](item)
> * * * * * * #end for
> * * * * #end for
> * * * * os.rmdir(dir)
> * * #end if
> #end delete_dir

The answer to 1) is no, due to topdown = False in the call to os.walk.

/Jean

On Apr 26, 8:31*am, MrJean1 <mrje...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Two comments:
>
> 1) Should delete_dir not be called instead of os.rmdir in this line
>
> * * * * * * * * (os.rmdir, os.remove)[os.path.islink(item)](item)
>
> 2) Function rmtree in the shutil module considers symlinks to a
> directory an error <http://docs.python.org/library/shutil.html#module-
> shutil> since Python 2.6.
>
> /Jean
>
> On Apr 26, 2:09*am, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-
>
>
>
> central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
> > It doesn’t seem to mention in the documentation for os.walk
> > <http://docs.python.org/library/os.html> that symlinks to directories are
> > returned in the list of directories, not the list of files. This will lead
> > to an error in the os.rmdir call in the example directory-deletion routine
> > on that page.
>
> > This version fixes that problem.
>
> > def delete_dir(dir) :
> > * * """deletes dir and all its contents."""
> > * * if os.path.isdir(dir) :
> > * * * * for parent, dirs, files in os.walk(dir, topdown = False) :
> > * * * * * * for item in files :
> > * * * * * * * * os.remove(os.path.join(parent, item))
> > * * * * * * #end for
> > * * * * * * for item in dirs :
> > * * * * * * * * item = os.path.join(parent, item)
> > * * * * * * * * (os.rmdir, os.remove)[os.path.islink(item)](item)
> > * * * * * * #end for
> > * * * * #end for
> > * * * * os.rmdir(dir)
> > * * #end if
> > #end delete_dir

On Apr 26, 4:09*am, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-
central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
> It doesn’t seem to mention in the documentation for os.walk
> <http://docs.python.org/library/os.html> that symlinks to directories are
> returned in the list of directories, not the list of files. This will lead
> to an error in the os.rmdir call in the example directory-deletion routine
> on that page.

They should probably remove that example, and just point the user to
shutil.rmtree() (as they do under the os.rmdir() description).

Regards,
Pat

In message
<86bb4820-ab5a-49cc-9e64->, MrJean1
wrote:

> 2) Function rmtree in the shutil module considers symlinks to a
> directory an error
> <http://docs.python.org/library/shutil.html#module-shutil> since Python
> 2.6.

I don’t think that applies to subdirectories. It would be stupid if it did.