Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!weretis.net!feeder1.news.weretis.net!news1.tnib.de!feed.news.tnib.de!news.tnib.de!newsfeed.freenet.ag!news2.euro.net!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2013 14:59:12 -0800 (PST)
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1378.1360089902.2939.python-list@python.org>
Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com
Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=199.181.155.130; posting-account=NWckLgoAAAA_ESRKeclDK3J-ZCP6LE-U
References: <1d7b7a3d-097f-477b-93b5-4343a25bc1f1@googlegroups.com> <mailman.1378.1360089902.2939.python-list@python.org>
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Subject: Re: ftp - delete multiple files of same type
From: chris.annin@gmail.com
To: comp.lang.python@googlegroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Cc: python-list@python.org
Precedence: list
Message-ID: <mailman.1395.1360105160.2939.python-list@python.org>
Lines: 271
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6
Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:38242


>=20
> > im trying to delete all text files from an ftp directory. is there a wa=
y to delete multiple files of the same extension?
>=20
> >
>=20
> > I came up with the following code below which works but I have to appen=
d the string because ftp.nlst returns:
>=20
> >
>=20
> > "-rwx------ 1 user group 0 Feb 04 15:57 New Text Document.txt"
>=20
> >
>=20
> > but then when I try to delete it that long file name which includes the=
 date doesnt exist - the files name is "new text document.txt" not "-rwx---=
--- 1 user group 0 Feb 04 15:57 New Text Document.txt"
>=20
> >
>=20
> > so anyway I stripped off the the beginning keeping the last 21 characte=
rs and it worked great - this should work being that I know all my text fil=
es names are the same length in characters - but it seems like there should=
 be a better more bullet proof way to do this?
>=20
> >
>=20
> > [code]import os
>=20
> > import system
>=20
> > from ftplib import FTP
>=20
> >
>=20
> > ftp =3D FTP('127.0.0.1')
>=20
> > ftp.login('')
>=20
> >
>=20
> > directory =3D 'test'
>=20
> > ftp.cwd(directory)
>=20
> >
>=20
> > files =3D ftp.nlst()
>=20
> >
>=20
> > for file in files:
>=20
> >      if file.find(".txt") !=3D -1:
>=20
> >          file =3D (file [-21:])
>=20
> >          ftp.delete(file)
>=20
> >
>=20
> > ftp.close()[/code]
>=20
> >
>=20
> > any ideas on this?  thank you.
>=20
> >
>=20
> Firstly, instead of:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>     file.find(".txt") !=3D -1
>=20
>=20
>=20
> use:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>      file.endswith(".txt")
>=20
>=20
>=20
> It's clearer (and it's true only if the ".txt" is at the end!)
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Secondly, your code assumes that the filename is exactly 21 characters.
>=20
> It looks like the strings returned by ftp.nlst() consist of 9 fields
>=20
> separated by whitespace, with the last field being the filename,
>=20
> which can also contain spaces. That being so, you can split the strings
>=20
> like this:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>      fields =3D file.split(None, 9)
>=20
>=20
>=20
> That'll make a maximum of 9 splits on any whitespace, for example:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>  >>> "-rwx------ 1 user group 0 Feb 04 15:57 New Text=20
>=20
> Document.txt".split(None, 9)
>=20
> ['-rwx------', '1', 'user', 'group', '0', 'Feb', '04', '15:57', 'New',=20
>=20
> 'Text Document.txt']
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Therefore:
>=20
>=20
>=20
> for entry in ftp.nlst():
>=20
>      if entry.endswith(".txt"):
>=20
>          filename =3D entry.split(None, 9)[-1]
>=20
>          ftp.delete(filename)

On Tuesday, February 5, 2013 10:45:02 AM UTC-8, MRAB wrote:
> On 2013-02-05 17:29, chris.annin@gmail.com wrote:
>=20
> > im trying to delete all text files from an ftp directory. is there a wa=
y to delete multiple files of the same extension?
>=20
> >
>=20
> > I came up with the following code below which works but I have to appen=
d the string because ftp.nlst returns:
>=20
> >
>=20
> > "-rwx------ 1 user group 0 Feb 04 15:57 New Text Document.txt"
>=20
> >
>=20
> > but then when I try to delete it that long file name which includes the=
 date doesnt exist - the files name is "new text document.txt" not "-rwx---=
--- 1 user group 0 Feb 04 15:57 New Text Document.txt"
>=20
> >
>=20
> > so anyway I stripped off the the beginning keeping the last 21 characte=
rs and it worked great - this should work being that I know all my text fil=
es names are the same length in characters - but it seems like there should=
 be a better more bullet proof way to do this?
>=20
> >
>=20
> > [code]import os
>=20
> > import system
>=20
> > from ftplib import FTP
>=20
> >
>=20
> > ftp =3D FTP('127.0.0.1')
>=20
> > ftp.login('')
>=20
> >
>=20
> > directory =3D 'test'
>=20
> > ftp.cwd(directory)
>=20
> >
>=20
> > files =3D ftp.nlst()
>=20
> >
>=20
> > for file in files:
>=20
> >      if file.find(".txt") !=3D -1:
>=20
> >          file =3D (file [-21:])
>=20
> >          ftp.delete(file)
>=20
> >
>=20
> > ftp.close()[/code]
>=20
> >
>=20
> > any ideas on this?  thank you.
>=20
> >
>=20
> Firstly, instead of:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>     file.find(".txt") !=3D -1
>=20
>=20
>=20
> use:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>      file.endswith(".txt")
>=20
>=20
>=20
> It's clearer (and it's true only if the ".txt" is at the end!)
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Secondly, your code assumes that the filename is exactly 21 characters.
>=20
> It looks like the strings returned by ftp.nlst() consist of 9 fields
>=20
> separated by whitespace, with the last field being the filename,
>=20
> which can also contain spaces. That being so, you can split the strings
>=20
> like this:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>      fields =3D file.split(None, 9)
>=20
>=20
>=20
> That'll make a maximum of 9 splits on any whitespace, for example:
>=20
>=20
>=20
>  >>> "-rwx------ 1 user group 0 Feb 04 15:57 New Text=20
>=20
> Document.txt".split(None, 9)
>=20
> ['-rwx------', '1', 'user', 'group', '0', 'Feb', '04', '15:57', 'New',=20
>=20
> 'Text Document.txt']
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Therefore:
>=20
>=20
>=20
> for entry in ftp.nlst():
>=20
>      if entry.endswith(".txt"):
>=20
>          filename =3D entry.split(None, 9)[-1]
>=20
>          ftp.delete(filename)


wow, thank you very much thats a huge help.

Chris