Python Zip File and Directory

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In this tutorial, you'll learn how to work with ZIP files in Python using the zipfile module, which allows you to create, read, and extract ZIP files.

• Creating a ZIP file:

To create a new ZIP file, you can use the ZipFile class from the zipfile module. Here's an example of how to create a ZIP file containing one file:

import zipfile # Create a new ZIP file with zipfile.ZipFile('path/to/your/archive.zip', mode='w') as archive: # Add a file to the archive archive.write('path/to/your/file.txt', arcname='file.txt') 

To add multiple files or directories, use a loop:

import zipfile import os files_to_zip = ['file1.txt', 'file2.txt', 'path/to/directory'] with zipfile.ZipFile('path/to/your/archive.zip', mode='w') as archive: for file_path in files_to_zip: arcname = os.path.basename(file_path) archive.write(file_path, arcname=arcname) 

• Reading a ZIP file:

To read the contents of a ZIP file, you can use the ZipFile class and its methods, such as namelist() and getinfo():

import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('path/to/your/archive.zip', mode='r') as archive: # Get the list of files in the archive file_names = archive.namelist() # Print the list of files for name in file_names: print(name) # Get file info and print file size file_info = archive.getinfo(name) print(f"Size: {file_info.file_size} bytes") 

• Extracting a ZIP file:

To extract the contents of a ZIP file, you can use the extractall() or extract() methods of the ZipFile class:

import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('path/to/your/archive.zip', mode='r') as archive: # Extract all files to the specified directory archive.extractall('path/to/your/destination') 

To extract a single file from the ZIP archive:

import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('path/to/your/archive.zip', mode='r') as archive: # Extract a single file to the specified directory archive.extract('file.txt', 'path/to/your/destination') 

• Compressing files with different compression levels:

By default, the ZipFile class uses the ZIP_STORED compression method, which means the files are stored without any compression. To compress files, you can use the ZIP_DEFLATED method, which requires the zlib library:

import zipfile import os files_to_zip = ['file1.txt', 'file2.txt'] compression_level = zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED with zipfile.ZipFile('path/to/your/archive.zip', mode='w') as archive: for file_path in files_to_zip: arcname = os.path.basename(file_path) archive.write(file_path, arcname=arcname, compress_type=compression_level) 

In this example, the files in the ZIP archive will be compressed using the ZIP_DEFLATED method, which uses the Deflate algorithm for compression.

Examples

1. Create zip file in Python:

   • Description: Use the zipfile module to create a zip file.
   • Code:

     import zipfile zip_file_path = 'example.zip' with zipfile.ZipFile(zip_file_path, 'w') as zip_file: zip_file.write('file1.txt') zip_file.write('file2.txt') 

2. Zip and unzip files in Python:

   • Description: Zip and unzip files using the zipfile module.
   • Code:

     import zipfile # Zip files with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'w') as zip_file: zip_file.write('file1.txt') zip_file.write('file2.txt') # Unzip files with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'r') as zip_file: zip_file.extractall('extracted_files') 

3. Compress and decompress files in Python:

   • Description: Compress and decompress files using the gzip module.
   • Code:

     import gzip import shutil # Compress file with open('file.txt', 'rb') as file: with gzip.open('file.txt.gz', 'wb') as gzip_file: shutil.copyfileobj(file, gzip_file) # Decompress file with gzip.open('file.txt.gz', 'rb') as gzip_file: with open('decompressed_file.txt', 'wb') as file: shutil.copyfileobj(gzip_file, file) 

4. Zip a directory in Python:

   • Description: Use shutil.make_archive to zip a directory.
   • Code:

     import shutil shutil.make_archive('example_directory', 'zip', 'directory_to_zip') 

5. Python shutil.make_archive() example:

   • Description: Use shutil.make_archive for zipping and archiving.
   • Code:

     import shutil shutil.make_archive('archive', 'zip', 'source_directory') 

6. Extract files from a zip archive in Python:

   • Description: Use zipfile to extract files from a zip archive.
   • Code:

     import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'r') as zip_file: zip_file.extract('file1.txt', 'destination_folder') 

7. Python zipfile.extractall() method:

   • Description: Use extractall() to extract all files from a zip archive.
   • Code:

     import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'r') as zip_file: zip_file.extractall('destination_folder') 

8. Add files to an existing zip archive in Python:

   • Description: Add files to an existing zip archive using zipfile.
   • Code:

     import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('existing_archive.zip', 'a') as zip_file: zip_file.write('new_file.txt') 

9. Python zip directory and subdirectories:

   • Description: Zip a directory with its subdirectories using shutil.make_archive.
   • Code:

     import shutil shutil.make_archive('example_directory', 'zip', 'directory_to_zip') 

10. Recursive zip and unzip in Python:

    • Description: Recursively zip and unzip directories.
    • Code:

      import shutil # Recursive zip shutil.make_archive('example_directory', 'zip', 'directory_to_zip') # Recursive unzip shutil.unpack_archive('example_directory.zip', 'extracted_directory') 

11. Password-protected zip files in Python:

    • Description: Create a password-protected zip file using zipfile.
    • Code:

      import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('password_protected.zip', 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zip_file: zip_file.setpassword(b'my_password') zip_file.write('file1.txt') zip_file.write('file2.txt') 

12. Working with zip file comments in Python:

    • Description: Add and read comments in a zip file.
    • Code:

      import zipfile # Add comment to a zip file with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'w') as zip_file: zip_file.comment = b'This is a comment' zip_file.write('file1.txt') # Read comment from a zip file with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'r') as zip_file: comment = zip_file.comment print(f'Comment: {comment.decode("utf-8")}') 

13. Create a self-extracting zip file in Python:

    • Description: Create a self-extracting zip file using shutil.make_archive.
    • Code:

      import shutil shutil.make_archive('self_extracting', 'zip', 'source_directory') 

14. Splitting and joining large zip files in Python:

    • Description: Split and join large zip files.
    • Code:

      import shutil # Split large zip file shutil.split('large_file.zip', 'split_zip', 1000000) # Join split zip files shutil.join('split_zip', 'large_file_reconstructed.zip') 

15. Check if a file is a zip file in Python:

    • Description: Check if a file is a zip file using zipfile.
    • Code:

      import zipfile is_zip = zipfile.is_zipfile('example.zip') print(f'Is a zip file: {is_zip}') 

16. Extract specific files from a zip archive in Python:

    • Description: Extract specific files from a zip archive.
    • Code:

      import zipfile with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'r') as zip_file: files_to_extract = ['file1.txt', 'file2.txt'] for file in files_to_extract: zip_file.extract(file, 'destination_folder') 

17. Error handling when working with zip files in Python:

    • Description: Implement error handling when working with zip files.
    • Code:

      import zipfile try: # Try to create a zip file with zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'w') as zip_file: zip_file.write('file1.txt') zip_file.write('file2.txt') except Exception as e: print(f'Error: {e}') 

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