Python Script to Sort Files based on Filetype Extensions

Python Script to Sort Files based on Filetype Extensions

Sunil Aleti's photo
Sunil Aleti
ยท

3 min read

We download many files from the internet and whatever file type it may be, all files will be downloaded and located in the 'Downloads' folder. And it looks like clutter. So today we will see, how to sort files with respect to filetype extension i.e mp4, docx, pdf, exe etc And we can use a python script to sort files with respect to filetype extension

Step 1: In order to workaround we need some modules, and we can import them using 'import' keyword

  • os - allows you to interface with the underlying operating system
  • shutil - responsible for copying and moving files respectively
  • glob - used to retrieve files/pathnames matching a specified pattern

Step 2: so with the help of glob module, we retrive all files present in that path location

ex: filename=glob.glob("C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/*")

Step 3: we will create lists with respect to filetype extensions

documents=['.pdf','.docx','.doc','.txt']
media=['.jpeg','.jpg','.svg','.png','.PNG','.mp4','.mp3']
setupFiles=['.exe','.msi']
compressedFiles=['.zip']
files=['.apk']

And specify the path locations of documents,media and setupfiles respectively

DocumentsLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/documents'
mediaLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/media'
setupFilesLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/setupFiles'
compressedFilesLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/compressedFiles'
FilesLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/Files'

Step 4: And this is the final step, we will extract the filetype extension using 'os.path.splitext' and moves the files with respect to filetype extension to specified location

And this is final code

import os
import glob
import shutil
from os import path
filename=glob.glob("C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/*")
documents=['.pdf','.docx','.doc','.txt']
media=['.jpeg','.jpg','.svg','.png','.PNG','.mp4','.mp3']
setupFiles=['.exe','.msi']
compressedFiles=['.zip']
files=['.apk']
DocumentsLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/documents'
mediaLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/media'
setupFilesLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/setupFiles'
compressedFilesLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/compressedFiles'
FilesLocation='C:/Users/Aleti Sunil/Downloads/Files'
for file in filename:
    if os.path.splitext(file)[1] in documents:
        if(path.exists(DocumentsLocation)):
            shutil.move(file,DocumentsLocation)
        else:
            os.mkdir(DocumentsLocation)
            shutil.move(file,DocumentsLocation)
    if os.path.splitext(file)[1] in media:
        if(path.exists(mediaLocation)):
            shutil.move(file,mediaLocation)
        else:
            os.mkdir(mediaLocation)
            shutil.move(file,mediaLocation)
    if os.path.splitext(file)[1] in setupFiles:
        if(path.exists(setupFilesLocation)):
            shutil.move(file,setupFilesLocation)
        else:
            os.mkdir(setupFilesLocation)
            shutil.move(file,setupFilesLocation)
    if os.path.splitext(file)[1] in compressedFiles:
        if(path.exists(compressedFilesLocation)):
            shutil.move(file,compressedFilesLocation)
        else:
            os.mkdir(compressedFilesLocation)
            shutil.move(file,compressedFilesLocation)
    if os.path.splitext(file)[1] in files:
        if(path.exists(FilesLocation)):
            shutil.move(file,FilesLocation)
        else:
            os.mkdir(FilesLocation)
            shutil.move(file,FilesLocation)

Check out the video on how it works

You can also schedule this script for every regular interval

Let me know if any queries

Happy Coding โค๏ธ

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