Automatically create a file in folder (Python)

Question

The problem is: I have to create a file in an automatically way into some folder which have been automatically created before.

Let me explain better. First I post the code used to create the folder...

import os
from datetime import datetime

timestr = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S-%f")

now = datetime.now()
newDirName = now.strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S-%f")
folder = os.mkdir('C:\\Users\\User\\Desktop\\' + newDirName)

This code will create a folder on Desktop with timestamp (microseconds included to make it as unique as possible..) as name.

Now I would like to create also a file (for example a txt) inside the folder. I already have the code to do it...

file = open('B' + timestr, 'w')
file.write('Exact time is: ' + timestr)
file.close()

How can I "combine" this together ? First create the folder and, near immediately, the file inside it?

Thank you. If it's still not clear, feel free to ask.

bakatrouble · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-12 07:56:53Z

3

Yes, just create a directory and then immediately a file inside it. All I/O operations in Python are synchronous by default so you won't get any race conditions.

Resulting code will be (also made some improvings to your code):

import os
from datetime import datetime

timestr = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S-%f")
dir_path = os.path.join('C:\\Users\\User\\Desktop', timestr)
folder = os.mkdir(dir_path)

with open(os.path.join(dir_path, 'B' + timestr), 'w') as file:
    file.write('Exact time is: ' + timestr)

You can also make your code (almost) cross-platform by replacing hard-coded desktop directory path with

os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), 'Desktop')

edited Jul 12, 2017 at 7:56

answered Jul 12, 2017 at 7:48

bakatrouble

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bakatrouble Over a year ago

Added some improvements

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