CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondatetimefile-io
Mike
Mike

Reputation: 4405

File = open() using date in file name error out, Python

I am trying to open a text file in python. In the following code:

import datime
from datetime import datetime

today = datetime.now()
sitename = "Soil Report"
rptFolder = r"C:\Template_Outputs\Production Reports"

file = open(rptFolder + "\\" + sitename + "_" + today.strftime("%y%b%d_%H:%M:%S") + ".txt", "w")

I keep getting the following error:

[Errno 22] invalid mode ('w') or filename:

I've narrowed it down the setting the date in the file name. It doesn't seem to like that (i.e. I just replaced the today.strftime("%y%b%d_%H:%M:%S") with "test" and it worked)

I've also tried to set the date as string to get it into the file name like:

str(today.strftime("%y%b%d_%H:%M:%S"))

No luck there either.

I need the time stamp in the file name because it the bigger script may be fun a few times in a short period.

is there something I'm missing here?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1544

Answers (3)

Doug T.
Doug T.

Reputation: 65599

If you're doing Windows, Windows doesn't allow files with colons (:). Try removing your colon from here:

str(today.strftime("%y%b%d_%H:%M:%S"))

and see what happens

Upvotes: 2

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

Reputation: 798676

Filenames on Windows can't contain a colon (:).

Upvotes: 1

Christopher Mahan
Christopher Mahan

Reputation: 7619

the colons are generally not allowed in file names. replace with underscores. Also, you might want to include either milliseconds, nanoseconds, or a random number at the end in the event you run more than one file per second.

Upvotes: 1

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