How to delete files and folders in Python

Delete files/folders in Python using os and shutil, and pathlib.

In a previous blog, we discussed how to copy files using python. In this article, we will see how os, pathlib, and shutil libraries can be used to delete files and directories on a computer.

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Both libraries come under standard python packages, so there’s no installation required. Let’s dive straight in.

Deletion of files:¶

1. os.remove(file_path)¶

This is the most straightforward way to delete a file from the system, file_path must be a path-like python object. The behaviour of deletion operation differs based on Operation System.

On Windows a file can not be deleted until it is being used by another application. On the other hand, on Linux the file object is deleted but data on disk is not erased until the application using it releases the lock.

Errors thrown:

• IsADirectoryError
• FileNotFoundError

Example:

import os
os.remove("/home/user/Documents/notes.txt")

2. pathlib.Path.unlink(missing_ok=False)¶

Deletes a file or symlink. If missing_ok is True then FileNotFoundError will be suppressed. In Linux based systems, symlinks can be of same name as target file, whereas in Windows, shortcuts have a .lnk extension.

Errors thrown:

• FileNotFoundError

Examples:

import pathlib

path = pathlib.Path("/home/user/Desktop/sample_pdf.pdf")
path.unlink()

Deletion of folders:¶

3. os.rmdir(directory_path)¶

Working of this function is similar to rmdir in Linux. directory_path should be a python path-like object. If the directory specified in the path is not empty an error will be raised, implying that only empty directories can be deleted.

Errors thrown:

• FileNotFoundError
• OSError

Example:

import os
os.rmdir("/home/user/Desktop/Images") 

4. pathlib.Path.rmdir()¶

pathlib's Path.rmdir() is an alternative to os.rmdir(). Under the hood pathlib extends os.rmdir() functionality. Directory to be deleted must be empty.

Errors thrown:

• FileNotFoundError
• OSError

Example:

import pathlib

path = pathlib.Path("/home/user/Desktop/Images") # create a path object first, rmdir() does not take any arguments
path.rmdir() 

5. shutil.rmtree(directory_path)¶

shutil is associated with file operations and also includes a function that can be used to delete a directory and all of its contents recursively. It is similar to Linux rm -rf command. The directory path provided must not be a symlink.

Errors thrown:

• FileNotFoundError
• NotADirectoryError

Example:

import shutil
shutil.rmdir("/home/user/Desktop/Images")