How can I overwrite a file by changing name?-CodePudding

I have something.txt and nothing.txt. How can I change the name of nothing.txt to something.txt and at the same time remove the old something.txt?

CodePudding user response：

You can check if the file exist. And if it does, remove it first.

from os import path, rename, remove


def mv(source, destination, overwrite=True):
    if path.isfile(destination):
        if overwrite:
            remove(destination)
        else:
            raise IOError("Destination file already exist")
    rename(source, destination)

CodePudding user response：

Using pathlib is easier. It is just .rename

from pathlib import Path

nothing = Path('nothing.txt')
nothing.rename('something.txt')

Demo Script

from pathlib import Path

# create file and populate with text for demo
with Path('something.txt').open('w') as f:
    f.write('something old!')

# check contents
print(Path('something.txt').open('r').readline())


nothing =  Path('nothing.txt')
with nothing.open('w') as f:
    f.write('something new!')
    
# rename replaces the old something with new
nothing.rename('something.txt')

# check results
print(Path('something.txt').open('r').readline())