Using Win32 api from python

Question

Following code has been given in the activestate python help file. This code is for recursively deleting a files in folder followed by deleting the folder itself. Please point out the error in it because I want to use win32 api using python

import win32con
import win32api
import os

def del_dir(path):
    for file_or_dir in os.listdir(path):
        if os.path.isdir(file_or_dir) and not os.path.islink(file_or_dir):
            del_dir(file_or_dir) #recursive call to function again
        else:
            try:
                os.remove(file_or_dir) #it's a file,delete is
            except:
                #probably failed because it is not a normal file
                win32api.SetFileAttributes(file_or_dir,win32con.FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL)
                os.remove(file_or_dir) #it's a file delete it

        os.rmdir(path)#delete the directory here

No idea why this code would even exist given that shutil.rmtree exists. — David Heffernan
– David Heffernan, Commented Oct 28, 2012 at 16:17

Uri London · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-28 08:35:23Z

1

The problem with your program isn't about the win32api. It fails because whenever you call any OS function (os.remove, win32api.SetFileAttributes) you pass only partial name (that is, the portion after the 'path'. change the first line of your function to:

def del_dir(path):
    for file_or_dir in os.listdir(path):

change to:

def del_dir(path):
    for x in os.listdir(path):
        file_or_dir = os.path.join(path,x)

the rest is the same. By the way, this is really a bad sample to delete entire directory, or to recursively walk a folder hierarchy. Use os.walk for a simple code.

In general, win32api and win32con working just fine. Open a python shell and try this much simpler code:

>>> import win32api
>>> import win32con
>>> win32api.MessageBox(0, "hello win32api", "win32api", win32con.MB_OK)

answered Oct 28, 2012 at 8:35

Uri London

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1 Comment

Luke Woodward Over a year ago

To delete an entire directory tree, shutil.rmtree can be used instead. See docs.python.org/2/library/shutil.html.

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