Sorting corresponding files into the same directory

Question

I've got 6 directories (A, B, C, D, E, F) containing .mov files.

The structure is:

A

-0001_01.mov

-0002_01.mov

-...

B

-0001_02.mov

-0002_02.mov

-...

And so on.

First, I want to create as many directories as there are files in one of the directories mentioned above. Let's say A contains 35 .mov files (B, C .. contain the same amount of .mov files). I now got 35 folders starting from "01" up to "35".

Now I want to copy each corresponding .mov file into the same directory, which means 0001_01.mov - 0001_06.mov go into "01", 0002_01.mov - 0002_06.mov go into "02" and so on.

I've got the creation of the directories working, but I just can't wrap my head around the copying part.

import os

pathA = ("./A/")
pathB = ("./B/")
pathC = ("./C/")
pathD = ("./D/")
pathE = ("./E/")
pathF = ("./F/")

path, dirs, filesA = next(os.walk(pathA))
file_countA = len(filesA)
path, dirs, filesB = next(os.walk(pathB))
file_countB = len(filesB)
path, dirs, filesC = next(os.walk(pathC))
file_countC = len(filesC)
path, dirs, filesD = next(os.walk(pathD))
file_countD = len(filesD)
path, dirs, filesE = next(os.walk(pathE))
file_countE = len(filesE)
path, dirs, filesF = next(os.walk(pathF))
file_countF = len(filesF)

path2 = ("./")

if file_countA == file_countB == file_countC == file_countD == file_countE == file_countF:
    print("true")
else:
    print ("false")

for i in range(file_countA):
    try:

        if i < 9:
            os.mkdir(path2 + "0" + str(i + 1))
            path3 = ("./" + "0" + str(i + 1))
            print (path3)

        elif i >= 9:
            os.mkdir(path2 + str(i + 1))
            path3 = ("./" + str(i + 1))
            print (path3)

    except OSError:
        print ("Creation of the directory %s failed" % path2)
    else:
        print ("Successfully created the directory %s " % path2)

This is my first time using python, I think the code reflects that. I've now wasted countless hours on this, so any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

So I changed your code quite a bit and tested it quickly on my system and it seemed to do what you wanted. Can you try and let me know if this gave you idea of how it can be done?

Disclaimer: I'm not Python expert by any means but I find my way around it and this is most likely not the prettiest solution but it deos work on my machine exactly as you wanted it. Just make sure you run it from inside your folder and if you are not running it from outside your folder then change cwd = os.getcwd() to cwd = "path-to-your-folder"

import os
import shutil
import glob

paths = ["/A/","/B/","/C/","/D/","/E/","/F/"]

cwd = os.getcwd()
num_folders = 0

for path in paths:
    num_files = len([f for f in os.listdir(cwd+path)if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(cwd+path, f))])
    if num_files>num_folders:
        num_folders = num_files

for i in range(num_folders):
    try:
        if i < 9:
            fname = cwd + "/0" + str(i + 1)
            os.mkdir(fname) 
            for path in paths:
                source = cwd + "/" + path
                filename = "000{}_*.mov".format(i+1)
                for file in glob.glob(os.path.join(source,filename)):
                    shutil.copy2(file,fname)
        elif i >= 9:
            fname = cwd + "/" + str(i + 1)
            os.mkdir(fname) 
            for path in paths:
                source = cwd + "/" + path
                filename = "00{}_*.mov".format(i+1)
                for file in glob.glob(os.path.join(source,filename)):
                    shutil.copy2(file,fname)
    except OSError:
        pass

Answer 2

I'm no python expert either (look at my scores too, hi), but I've tried to keep your original coding order as much as possible. I would recommend to look at different codes for real expert-tier code but it seems to do what you're asking for :

import os
import shutil

mov_pathes = ["./a/", "./b/"]
all_files = []
lengths = []

for mov_path in mov_pathes :
    # listdir gives you all files in the direcetory
    files_in_dir = os.listdir(mov_path)
    
    # we'll save those in a list along with where it's from ,
    # ex : ('./patha/',['0001_01.mov','0002_01.mov'])
    all_files.append((mov_path, files_in_dir))
    
    # also length info for "all items are equal length" comparison in the future
    lengths.append(len(files_in_dir))


if lengths.count(lengths[0]) == len(lengths) :
    print ("true")
else :
    print ("false")


base_dir = "./"

for i in range (1,lengths[0]+1) :
    try :
        # zfill(n) fills rest of your string to 0, (ex. "7".zfill(5) gives you 00007), probably helpful for future
        path_name = base_dir + str(i).zfill(2)
        os.mkdir(path_name)

    except OSError :
        print ("Creation of the directory {path_name} failed".format(path_name = path_name))

    else :
        print ("Successfully created the directory {path_name}".format(path_name = path_name))

Does exactly the same thing but it would probably make maintaining your code easier laster on.

for your real question, IF we're sure that your inputs are gonna look like 00XX_NN.mov, adding

for files in all_files :
    # Remember we saved as (original dir, list of files in the dir?)
    # This is a original dir
    source_dir = files[0]
    # This is list of files in that directory
    source_files = files[1]
    
    for file in source_files :
        # so original file is located in source_dir + file
        source_file =  source_dir + file

        # and your target directory is 00XX, so getting file[2:4] gives the target directory
        target_dir = base_dir + file[2:4]

        #shutil.copy (source file, target directory) copies your files.
        shutil.copy (source_file , target_dir)
        

seems to do what you're asking for, at least for me. Once again I'm no expert so let me know if it's not working!

tested with :

./a 
 - 0001_01
 - 0002_01
 - 0003_01


./b
 - 0001_02
 - 0002_02
 - 0003_02

result :

./01 :
 - 0001_01
 - 0001_02

./02 :
 - 0002_01
 - 0002_02

./03 :
 - 0003_01
 - 0003_02