pyrocopy is a suite of advanced file utility functions, written in Python, for efficiently copying all or part of a directory tree. It can be used as a module in your own application or run as a standalone command line tool.
- Mirror Mode
- Sync Mode (bi-directional copy)
- Regular expression and wildcard based filename and directory matching
- Configurable maximum tree depth traversal
- Detailed operation statistics
pyrocopy can be easily installed with pip using the following command:
pip install pyrocopy
pyrocopy [-h] [--mirror | --move | --sync] [-f] [--nostat]
[-if INCLUDEFILES] [-id INCLUDEDIRS] [-xf EXCLUDEFILES]
[-xd EXCLUDEDIRS] [-l LEVEL] [-fl] [-q | -v] [--version]
source destination
In addition to being used as a Python module, pyrocopy can be used as a standalone command line tool. The command line tool offers the same four copy modes as the module (copy, mirror, move and sync) with the default mode being copy.
The command line tool also provides detailed information about the running operation, including real-time progress bars. The output of the tool is configurable if you need more or less information using the -v and -q options respectively.
By default pyrocopy runs in copy mode. This mode will copy the selected contents of the specified source directory to a destination. Files that already exist in the destination with the same relative path and name will be skipped unless the source version is newer (this can be overridden with the --force option).
When using the --mirror flag, pyrocopy will run in mirror mode. This mode copies the selected contents of the specified source directory into destination and then removes any file or subdirectory of destination that cannot also be found in the source.
Using the --move flag enables move mode. This mode will copy all of the selected contents from source to the specified destination and if successful remove the file or directory from source. Note that if there exists an existing file in destination that is newer than the version in source the file will be skipped and thus not removed from source. This behavior can be overridden using the --force flag.
With the --sync flag pyrocoy will run in sync mode. Sync mode performs a bi-directional copy of selected contents from source to destination such that both directories will contain all of the same files at the end of the operation. This is equivalent to running pyrocopy twice in copy mode with the second run having swapped source and destination.
The tool can be instructed to limit the selection of files and directories to be copied by specifying a list of regular expressions or wildcard patterns. There are two types of file selection lists that can be specified; inclusion and exclusion.
When specifying a regular expression prefix the pattern with re:. For example, the desired regular expression pattern MyDir[0-9]+ would be re:MyDir[0-9]+. When re: is not specified a wildcard pattern is assumed.
The --includefiles (-if) option allows you to specify a regex or wildcard pattern that will only copy files whose path and name matches the pattern. More than one pattern can be provided by adding an additional --includefiles option to the command line.
> pyrocopy --includefiles "pattern1" --includefiles "pattern2" /my/source/path /my/dest/path
It is also possible to specify the desired path structure to match. For example if it is desired to copy only the .txt files from any folder containing the subdirectory toinclude the wildcard pattern would be */toinclude/*.txt
The --includedirs (-id) option allows you to specify a regex or wildcard pattern that will only copy directories whose path matches the pattern. Again, more than one pattern can be provided by adding an additional --includedirs option. This option can be used in addition to --includefiles.
> pyrocopy --includedirs "dirToInclude" /my/source/path /my/dest/path
The --excludefiles (-xf) option specifies a regex or wildcard pattern that will skip any file whose path and name matches the pattern. This option is mutually exclusive to --includefiles and will have no effect if specified in addition to that option.
> pyrocopy --excludefiles "toExclude" /my/source/path /my/dest/path
It is also possible to specify the desired path structure to match. For example if it is desired to exclude all .txt files from any folder containing the subdirectory toexclude the wildcard pattern would be */toexclude/*.txt
The --excludedirs (-xd) option specifies a regex or wildcard pattern that will skip any file whose path matches the pattern. This option is mutually exclusive to --excludedirs and will have no effect if specified in addition to that option.
In addition to filename and directory matching it is possible to define the maximum depth of the source tree that will be traversed. This provides the ability to perform shallow copies or deep copies of an arbitrary length. Furthermore, the tree can be traversed in reverse making it possible to only copy the files and directories contained in the furthest nodes of the tree.
This is accomplished with the --level option and specifying an integer value that counts the depth level away from the source root (or furthest node if using inverse depth). Specifying a value of 0 will traverse the entire source tree and is the default option. A positive value will copy the maximum depth reached from the top of the source tree with level 1 being the root of the source path provided. A negative value will copy in reverse, starting at the furthest node in the source tree and counting up towards the root. Therefore a value of -1 will copy only those files at the furthest subdirectory of the source path.
The following will copy one directory tree to another, skipping any existing files with the same path/name that are newer in the destination than the source.
> pyrocopy /my/src/path /my/dest/path
The following copies any filename in the source tree that has a name starting with myFile.
> pyrocopy --if "myFile*" /my/src/path /my/dest/path
A more powerful variation can be made to match only files that start with myFile and follow with a number. To match the desired form the regular expression myFile[0-9]+ is used.
> pyrocopy --if "re:myFile[0-9]+" /my/src/path /my/dest/path
The following mirrors the source tree to the destination but excludes any directory with the name .ignore.
> pyrocopy --mirror --xd ".ignore" /my/src/path /my/dest/path
Adding the 'level' argument with a value of 1 will copy only those files in the immediate source directory, skipping all subdirectories.
> pyrocopy --level 1 /my/src/path /my/dest/path
The inverted shallow copy duplicates the files at the furthest node of the source tree into the destination, creating all necessary subdirectories along the way.
To illustrate this behavior take the following source tree.
/PathA
FileA1.txt
/SubPathA1
FileSubPathA1.txt
/SubPathA2
FileSubPathA2.txt
Using the following code will copy only FileSubPathA2.txt to the destination by adding the 'level' argument with a value of -1.
> pyrocopy --level -1 /PathA /PathB
The resulting destination tree looks like the following.
/PathB
/SubPathA1
/SubPathA2
FileSubPathA2.txt
Expanding on the previous example if we change the specified level from -1 to -2 we get a resulting file tree that copies both FileSubPathA2.txt and FileSubPathA1.txt. The code for this is as follows.
> pyrocopy --level -2 /PathA /PathB
With the destination tree looking like the following.
/PathB
/SubPathA1
FileSubPathA1.txt
/SubPathA2
FileSubPathA2.txt
usage: pyrocopy [-h] [--mirror | --move | --sync] [-f] [--nostat]
[-if INCLUDEFILES] [-id INCLUDEDIRS] [-xf EXCLUDEFILES]
[-xd EXCLUDEDIRS] [-l LEVEL] [-fl] [-q | -v] [--version]
source destination
A robust file copying utility.
positional arguments:
source The path to copy contents from
destination The path to copy contents to
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--version show program's version number and exit
copy mode:
--mirror Creates an exact copy of source to the destination
removing any files or directories in destination not
also contained in source.
--move Moves all files and directories from source to
destination (delete from source after copying).
--sync Performs a bi-directional copy of the contents of
source and destination to contain the exact same set
of files and directories in both locations.
copy options:
-f, --force Overwrites all files in destination from source even
if newer.
--nostat Do not copy file stats (mode bits, atime, mtime,
flags)
selection options:
-if INCLUDEFILES, --includefiles INCLUDEFILES
A list of regular expression or wildcard patterns for
file inclusions. Regex patterns must include the
prefix: re:
-id INCLUDEDIRS, --includedirs INCLUDEDIRS
A list of regular expression or wildcard patterns for
directory inclusions. Regex patterns must include the
prefix: re:
-xf EXCLUDEFILES, --excludefiles EXCLUDEFILES
A list of regular expression or wildcard patterns for
file exclusions. Regex patterns must include the
prefix: re:
-xd EXCLUDEDIRS, --excludedirs EXCLUDEDIRS
A list of regular expression or wildcard patterns for
directory exclusions. Regex patterns must include the
prefix: re:
-l LEVEL, --level LEVEL
The maximum depth level to traverse during the copy,
starting from the source root. A negative value starts
from the furthest node from the source root.
-fl, --followlinks Traverses symbolic links as directories instead of
copying the link.
logging options:
-q, --quiet Shows less output during the operation.
-v, --verbose Shows more output during the operation.
There are four primary functions to pyrocopy; copy, mirror, move and sync. Each function takes the same set of arguments and will return a dictionary containing statistics about the operation.
The first key principle of pyrocopy is to provide a robust set of file selection features so that users can operate only on the files and directories they need. Each function offers the ability to specify separate lists of files or directories to include or exclude. Both regular expressions and wildcard based matching patterns are supported to provide you with the greatest flexibility.
When specifying a regular expression you must prefix the pattern with re:. For example the desired regular expression pattern MyDir[0-9]+ would be re:MyDir[0-9]+. If re: is not specified a wildcard pattern is assumed.
In addition to filename and directory matching it is possible to define the maximum depth of the source tree that will be traversed. This provides the ability to perform shallow copies or deep copies of an arbitrary length. Furthermore, the tree can be traversed in reverse making it possible to only copy the files and directories contained in the furthest nodes of the tree.
The four primary functions of pyrocopy (copy, mirror, move and sync) all return a dictionary containing statistics about the operation executed. Additionally, when the detailedResults argument is set to True an additional set of information is included in the results to aid in your application use.
The list of statistics are:
Statistics [copy, mirror, sync]
- filesCopied
- filesFailed
- filesSkipped
- dirsCopied
- dirsFailed
- dirsSkipped
- filesCopiedList [requires detailedResults]
- filesFailedList [requires detailedResults]
- filesSkippedList [requires detailedResults]
- dirsCopiedList [requires detailedResults]
- dirsFailedList [requires detailedResults]
- dirsSkippedList [requires detailedResults]
Statistics [move]
- filesMoved
- filesFailed
- filesSkipped
- dirsMoved
- dirsFailed
- dirsSkipped
- filesMovedList [requires detailedResults]
- filesFailedList [requires detailedResults]
- filesSkippedList [requires detailedResults]
- dirsMovedList [requires detailedResults]
- dirsFailedList [requires detailedResults]
- dirsSkippedList [requires detailedResults]
The following will copy one directory tree to another, skipping any existing files with the same path/name that are newer in the destination than the source.
from pyrocopy import pyrocopy
results = pyrocopy.copy(source, destination)The following copies any filename in the source tree that has a name starting with myFile.
from pyrocopy import pyrocopy
results = pyrocopy.copy(source, destination, includeFiles=['myFile*'])A more powerful variation can be made to match only files that start with myFile and follow with a number. To match the desired form the regular expression myFile[0-9]+ is used.
from pyrocopy import pyrocopy
results = pyrocopy.copy(source, destination, includeFiles=['re:myFile[0-9]+'])The following mirrors the source tree to the destination but excludes any directory with the name '.ignore'.
from pyrocopy import pyrocopy
results = pyrocopy.mirror(source, destination, excludeDirs=['.ignore'])Adding the 'level' argument with a value of 1 will copy only those files in the immediate source directory, skipping all subdirectories.
from pyrocopy import pyrocopy
results = pyrocopy.copy(source, destination, level=1)The inverted shallow copy duplicates the files at the furthest node of the source tree into the destination, creating all necessary subdirectories along the way.
To illustrate this behavior take the following source tree.
/PathA
FileA1.txt
/SubPathA1
FileSubPathA1.txt
/SubPathA2
FileSubPathA2.txt
Using the following code will copy only FileSubPathA2.txt to the destination by adding the 'level' argument with a value of -1.
from pyrocopy import pyrocopy
results = pyrocopy.copy("/pathA", destination, level=-1)The resulting destination tree looks like the following.
/PathB
/SubPathA1
/SubPathA2
FileSubPathA2.txt
Expanding on the previous example if we change the specified level from -1 to -2 we get a resulting file tree that copies both FileSubPathA2.txt and FileSubPathA1.txt. The code for this is as follows.
from pyrocopy import pyrocopy
results = pyrocopy.copy("/pathA", destination, level=-2)With the destination tree looking like the following.
/PathB
/SubPathA1
FileSubPathA1.txt
/SubPathA2
FileSubPathA2.txt
def copy(src, dst, includeFiles=None, includeDirs=None, excludeFiles=None, excludeDirs=None, level=0,
followLinks=False, forceOverwrite=False, preserveStats=True, detailedResults=False):Copies all files and folders from the given source directory to the destination.
The source path to copy from
The destination path to copy to
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to include during the operation. Files not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to include during the operation. Directories not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
The maximum depth to traverse in the source directory tree.
A value of 0 traverses the entire tree. A positive value traverses N levels from the top with value 1 being the source root. A negative value traverses N levels from the bottom of the source tree.
Set to true to traverse through symbolic links.
Set to true to overwrite destination files even if they are newer.
Set to True to copy the source file stats to the destination.
Set to True to include additional details in the results containing a list of all files and directories that were skipped or failed during the operation.
Returns a dictionary containing the following stats: 'filesCopied':int, 'filesFailed':int, 'filesSkipped':int, 'dirsCopied':int, 'dirsFailed':int, 'dirsSkipped':int If detailedResults is set to True also includes the following: 'filesCopiedList':list, 'filesFailedList':list, 'filesSkippedList':list, 'dirsCopiedList':list, 'dirsFailedList':list, 'dirsSkippedList':list
def mirror(src, dst, includeFiles=None, includeDirs=None, excludeFiles=None, excludeDirs=None, level=0,
followLinks=False, forceOverwrite=False, preserveStats=True, detailedResults=False):Creates an exact copy of the given source to the destination. Copies all files and directories from source to the destination and removes any file or directory present in the destination that is not also in the source.
The source path to copy from
The destination path to copy to
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to include during the operation. Files not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to include during the operation. Directories not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
The maximum depth to traverse in the source directory tree.
A value of 0 traverses the entire tree. A positive value traverses N levels from the top with value 1 being the source root. A negative value traverses N levels from the bottom of the source tree.
Set to true to traverse through symbolic links.
Set to true to overwrite destination files even if they are newer.
Set to True to copy the source file stats to the destination.
Set to True to include additional details in the results containing a list of all files and directories that were skipped or failed during the operation.
Returns a dictionary containing the following stats: 'filesCopied':int, 'filesFailed':int, 'filesSkipped':int, 'dirsCopied':int, 'dirsFailed':int, 'dirsSkipped':int If detailedResults is set to True also includes the following: 'filesCopiedList':list, 'filesFailedList':list, 'filesSkippedList':list, 'dirsCopiedList':list, 'dirsFailedList':list, 'dirsSkippedList':list
def move(src, dst, includeFiles=None, includeDirs=None, excludeFiles=None, excludeDirs=None, level=0,
followLinks=False, forceOverwrite=False, preserveStats=True, detailedResults=False):Moves all files and folders from the given source directory to the destination.
The source path to move from
The destination path to move to
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to include during the operation. Files not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to include during the operation. Directories not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
The maximum depth to traverse in the source directory tree.
A value of 0 traverses the entire tree. A positive value traverses N levels from the top with value 1 being the source root. A negative value traverses N levels from the bottom of the source tree.
Set to true to traverse through symbolic links.
Set to true to overwrite destination files even if they are newer.
Set to True to copy the source file stats to the destination.
Set to True to include additional details in the results containing a list of all files and directories that were skipped or failed during the operation.
Returns a dictionary containing the following stats: 'filesMoved', 'filesFailed', 'filesSkipped', 'dirsMoved', 'dirsFailed', 'dirsSkipped' If detailedResults is set to True also includes the following: 'filesMovedList':list, 'filesFailedList':list, 'filesSkippedList':list, 'dirsMovedList':list, 'dirsFailedList':list, 'dirsSkippedList':list
def sync(src, dst, includeFiles=None, includeDirs=None, excludeFiles=None, excludeDirs=None, level=0,
followLinks=False, forceOverwrite=False, preserveStats=True, detailedResults=False):Synchronizes all files and folders between the two given paths.
The source path to copy from
The destination path to copy to
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to include during the operation. Files not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to include during the operation. Directories not matching at least one pattern in the include list will be skipped. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of files to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
A list of regex and wildcard patterns of directory names to exclude during the operation. Regex patterns must be prefixed with re:
The maximum depth to traverse in the source directory tree.
A value of 0 traverses the entire tree. A positive value traverses N levels from the top with value 1 being the source root. A negative value traverses N levels from the bottom of the source tree.
Set to true to traverse through symbolic links.
Set to true to overwrite destination files even if they are newer.
Set to True to copy the source file stats to the destination.
Set to True to include additional details in the results containing a list of all files and directories that were skipped or failed during the operation.
Returns a dictionary containing the following stats: 'filesCopied':int, 'filesFailed':int, 'filesSkipped':int, 'dirsCopied':int, 'dirsFailed':int, 'dirsSkipped':int If detailedResults is set to True also includes the following: 'filesCopiedList':list, 'filesFailedList':list, 'filesSkippedList':list, 'dirsCopiedList':list, 'dirsFailedList':list, 'dirsSkippedList':list
def mkdir(path):Creats a new directory at the specified path. This function will create all parent directories that are missing in the given path.
The path of the new directory to create.
Returns True if the directory was successfully created, otherwise False.