Explanation

Here is a simple code that I wrote years ago to organize easily several files in subdirectories according to their names (using regular expressions). Sorry for the mistakes I could have made... I hope you find it useful.

Code

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

# Created by por Noelia Sales Montes

# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
# the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
# Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version.

# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
# ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
# FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
# details.

# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
# this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

# Contact: 
# noelia.salesmontes@gmail.com

"""
Python script that organizes the working directory files according to their
name.

CORRECT USAGE: python organize.py [-v] [-h|-s|-f]
 * -v -> enable verbose mode
 * -h o --help
 * -s o --secure -> copy files
 * -f o --force -> force the movement of files
 If file already exists, it is deleted
"""

import sys
import os
import shutil
import getopt
import glob

# Regular expressions of files to process
__exreg__ = ['*.mp3', '*.hs', '*.py']
# Directories for each of the above files
__dirs__ = ['/home/nessa/Music', '/home/nessa/Haskell', '/home/nessa/Python']
# Options
__verbose__ = False
__secure__ = False
__force__ = False

def usage():
 """
 Print usage
 """
 print "USAGE: python organize.py [-v] [-h|-s|-f]"

def organize():
 """
 Main function which classifies files according to the regular expressions
 """
 indice = 0
 for exp in __exreg__:
 if __verbose__ == True:
 print "Regular expression: %s" % exp

 # Find files that match with the regular expression
 for __f in glob.glob(exp):
 move(__f, indice)
 indice += 1


def move(__f, __ind):
 """
 Files movement
 """
 # Ensures the directory exists
 if not os.path.exists(__dirs__[__ind]):
 if __verbose__ == True:
 print "Creating %s" % __dirs__[__ind]
 os.makedirs(__dirs__[__ind])

 if __verbose__ == True:
 print "%s => %s" % (__f, __dirs__[__ind])

 # Copy (__secure__ mode) or move
 try:
 if __secure__ == True: 
 shutil.copy(__f, __dirs__[__ind])
 else:
 shutil.move(__f, __dirs__[__ind])
 except shutil.Error:
 # If there is any problem, move is forced
 if __force__ == True:
 try:
 os.remove(os.path.join(__dirs__[__ind], __f))
 print os.path.join(__dirs__[__ind], __f)
 if __secure__ == True:
 shutil.copy(__f, __dirs__[__ind])
 else:
 shutil.move(__f, __dirs__[__ind])
 except shutil.Error:
 print "%s wasn't moved" % __f
 else:
 print "%s wasn't moved'" % __f


if __name__ == "__main__":
 try:
 __opts__, __args__ = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:],
 'shvf', ["secure", "help",
 "__force__"])
 except getopt.GetoptError, __err:
 # Print error and help
 print str(__err)
 usage()
 sys.exit(2)

 # Identify options
 for o, a in __opts__:
 if o == "-v":
 __verbose__ = True
 elif o in ("-h", "--help"):
 usage()
 sys.exit()
 elif o in ("-s", "--secure"):
 __secure__ = True
 elif o in ("-f", "--__force__"):
 __force__ = True
 else:
 assert False, "Unsupported option"

 organize()