.remove()
Published Apr 1, 2022Updated Apr 2, 2023
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The Python .remove()
file method allows the user to delete a file if it exists in the system or computer. .unlink()
is an alternative to delete a file.
Note: A FileNotFoundError
is raised if the file is not found or isn’t in the current directory.
Syntax
This method is provided by the os
module which must be imported beforehand.
import os
os.remove("file_name.file_type")
os.remove("file_path")
The .remove()
method works in the following ways:
- If the file exists in the current directory, a string argument for the file (written as
"file_name.file_type"
) can be used to successfully delete it. - A
"file_path"
can also be passed if a file exists outside the current directory.
Entire folders or directories can be removed using the .rmdir()
method.
Example
In the example below, the .remove()
method is used to delete the my_file.txt file:
import os# Delete file in current directoryos.remove("my_file.txt")# Delete file in another directoryos.remove("path/to/my_file.txt")
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