CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
DarkKnight4251
DarkKnight4251

Reputation: 53

Creating folders based on names in a text file in python

I am trying to get a python script to read a text file that has a list of names in it and create folders based on those names. For example, if the text file has "john_doe" and "jane_doe" in it, the script should create two folders. One called "john_doe" and one called "jane_doe".

When I run my script, I get the error WindowsError: [Error 123] The filename, directory name, or colume label syntax is incorrect: ",open file 'names.txt', mode 'r' at 0X00000000025E6300>"

Here's the script that I'm running:

import os

with open('names.txt') as x:
    for line in x:
        line = line.strip()
        os.mkdir(str(x))

I think that it's more of a Windows problem (hence the WindowsError), but I'm not sure how to get around it. Any tips?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 4396

Answers (4)

Abisdad
Abisdad

Reputation: 101

# My solution from above...
# Trying to create folders from a file
# By Rob Thomas
# 16/3/2019 Ver 2.0

import os,sys

# Change to correct folder to create files in
# Just copy from Windows Explorer, then add in the extra "\"
os.chdir("R:\\_1 Y9 Yellow")
print(os.getcwd())
right=input("Is this correct? Y/N: ")

if right.lower()!="y":
    print("Exiting...")
    sys.exit()

try:    # Also change to the correct file name 
    with open('Yellow.txt', "r") as x:
        for line in x:
            line = line.strip()
            os.mkdir(str(line))
        x.close()

except OSError:  
    print ("Creation of the directory failed" )
else:  
    print ("Successfully created the directory" )

Upvotes: 0

leekaiinthesky
leekaiinthesky

Reputation: 5593

Instead of:

        os.mkdir(str(x))

You meant:

        os.mkdir(str(line))

You don't even need str(), since line is already a str. (I suspect you only added it because os.mkdir(x) was giving you an error.)

Your previous code was trying to create several directories, all named something like "<open file 'names.txt', mode 'r' at 0X00000000025E6300>".

Upvotes: 3

Malcriado415
Malcriado415

Reputation: 109

You may be catching a problem with special characters and whitespace between the names. Windows doesn't like it when you fail to escape the whitespace between multi-word directory names.

Try (i) reading the lines as Unicode (to avoid special character problems) and then (ii) joining the names with an underscore to avoid whitespace issues:

import os

with open('names.txt', 'rU') as x:
    for line in x:
        line = line.strip().split()
        filename = "_".join([i for i in line])
        os.mkdir(filename)

Upvotes: 0

Devi Prasad Khatua
Devi Prasad Khatua

Reputation: 1235

Check the current working directory by:

>>> import os
>>> os.getcwd()

You may find that your program maynot have appropriate permission to make changes on the directory.

Try changing to something else like:

>>> os.chdir("<someAbsolutePath>")

And if you find the program can write/ make changes on another directory, then you may need to change the permissions of the program.

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions