Remove a file in Python

Question

I'm trying to remove a file that physically exists on my system. I wrote the following function using Python 3 that does not work:

def remove_file(output_file):
    print("Removing the output file: ", output_file)
    try:
        os.remove(output_file)
    except RemoveFileError as e:
        remove_stat = e.returncode
    else:
        remove_stat = 1
    if remove_stat == 0:
        print("File removed!")
    else:
        print("File not removed.")

When I try to remove the file using the above code this is the result I get:

Removing the output file:  ../../../output_files/aws_instance_list/aws-master-list-03-21-2019.csv
File not removed.

What am I doing wrong?

remove try and except block to show the real error. only write os.remove(output_file) to see what is the real error — Mojtaba Kamyabi
– Mojtaba Kamyabi, Commented Mar 21, 2019 at 15:59
You're setting remove_stat to 1 in the else, which is executed when no exception is raised. — Blorgbeard
– Blorgbeard, Commented Mar 21, 2019 at 16:00
So you set remove_state to 1 upon success, but then you check that it's equal to 0 to see if it was successful? When would that condition ever happen? — Random Davis
– Random Davis, Commented Mar 21, 2019 at 16:00
You need to add a statement before removing the file. Probably a checking to see whether the file exists or not. Or maybe you are passing the wrong file location. — Lee
– Lee, Commented Mar 21, 2019 at 16:02

Cloudomation · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-21 16:05:13Z

2

The else clause of your try statement is being executed when no error occurred. See Handling Exceptions

Try this updated version of your code:

def remove_file(output_file):
    print("Removing the output file: ", output_file)
    try:
        os.remove(output_file)
    except RemoveFileError as e:
        remove_stat = e.returncode
    else:
        remove_stat = 0
    if remove_stat == 0:
        print("File removed!")
    else:
        print("File not removed.")
    print("File exists:", os.path.exists(output_file))

answered Mar 21, 2019 at 16:05

Cloudomation

1,6821 gold badge8 silver badges17 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Remove a file in Python

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related