/qfile

A python library for simplifying common file operations.

Primary LanguagePython

qfile

A python library for simplifying common file operations.

pip install qfile

Common file operations in python should be simpler and involve less boilerplate, while still delivering fairly powerful options. qfile was created for just that purpose.

Some simple code examples:

import qfile

# Write to a given file
qfile.write("text.txt", "my text here")

# Read the given file
text = qfile.read("text.txt") # text == "my text here"

# Move folder "a" to existing folder "b", merging it with "b" if it already exists
qfile.move("a", "b", force=True) # Setting force=True ensures files replace folders with the same name in "b".

# Rename folder/file "x" to "y", raising an error if "y" exists already
qfile.rename("x", "y")

# Clone folder "b" into folder "c", making folder "c" if it doesn't exist
qfile.clone("b", "c", into=True)

# Make a folder, not caring if it already exists
# The same as Path("x/y/z").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) or os.makedirs(exist_ok=True)
qfile.folder("x/y/z")

# Delete the folder or file named "deleteme"
qfile.delete("deleteme")

# Replace all instances of "old" with "new" in all the ".txt" files in the current working directory
qfile.replace(qfile.glob(".", "**/*.txt"), "old", "new")

qfile can do a whole lot more, just check out the API documentation

Deeper Example

Here's a specific example task: let's say you wanted to write some code that does these things:

  • Open up an directory given by the user (creating it if it doesn't exist)
  • Write a dictionary to a file in that directory in json-based format
  • Read from a file in that directory, and if that file does not exist, use some other default value instead, writing back to the file
  • Delete the file/folder "deleteme" in that directory, regardless of if it is a folder or a file with no extension. Nothing should happen if the item doesn't exist.

Someone might write code to do this like so:

from pathlib import Path
import json
import shutil

# Make the directory
path = Path(input("Enter a directory: "))
path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
# Write dictionary to file
path.joinpath("data.json").write_text(json.dumps({"a": 1, "b": 2}))

# Read from file
file = path.joinpath("text")
try:
    text = file.read_text("utf-8")
except FileNotFoundError:
    text = "default"
    file.write_text(text, "utf-8")

# Delete "deleteme"
badfile = path.joinpath("deleteme")
if badfile.is_dir():
    shutil.rmtree(badfile)
elif badfile.is_file():
    os.remove(badfile)

qfile, at least in my opinion, makes this process much simpler and more readable:

import qfile

path = input("Enter a directory: ")
# Make the directory
with qfile.wd(path):
    # Write dictionary to file
    qfile.write("data.json", {"a": 1, "b": 2}, 'j')
    
    # Read from file
    text = qfile.read("text.txt", err="default")
    
    # Delete "deleteme"
    qfile.delete("deleteme")

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