Move files to specific directory, according to file extension

Question

I've written the following script

import shutil,os,glob

# setting up destination folders

PYDEST = "/home/ubuntu/python-scripts/python-test"

TEXTDEST = "/home/ubuntu/python-scripts/texte-test"

def move8files(pwd):
    PWD = pwd + "*"
    for files in glob.glob(PWD):
        if files.endswith(".txt"):
            print(files)
            shutil.move(files,TEXTDEST)
        elif files.endswith(".py"):
            shutil.move(files,PYDEST)

move8files("/home/ubuntu/python-scripts/")

Questions/Issues are the following:

• How can I make it simpler, especially by using the os.listdir but with having the pathname (listdir does not give pathname)?
• Would it be possible to include a part in my script, where instead of saying which folders are for python or text files, it will look syntaxically at specific folders containing words like python or texte in it?
• What can I improve in my script, for better performance?

Answer 1

I have no idea, how to make it simpler. I could only offer an alternative:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import shutil

fullpath = os.path.join
python_directory = "./py"
start_directory = "./mixed"
text_files = "./txt"


def main():
    for dirname, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(start_directory):
        for filename in filenames:
            source = fullpath(dirname, filename)
            if filename.endswith("py"):
               shutil.move(source, fullpath(python_directory, filename))
            elif filename.endswith("txt"):
                shutil.move(source, fullpath(text_files, filename))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

I think os.walk()is what you are looking for.

Answer 2

Expanding @ThomasJunk's answer I think you can improve a bit by using a small dictionary, so you can add more file types if you need to:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import shutil

fullpath = os.path.join
python_directory = "./py"
start_directory = "./mixed"
text_files = "./txt"

default_path = "./default"

dir_lookup = {
    'py': './py/',
    'txt': './txt/'
}

def get_extension(filename):
    return filename[filename.rfind('.')+1:]

def main():
    for dirname, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(start_directory):
        for filename in filenames:
            source = fullpath(dirname, filename)
            extension = get_extension(filename)
            if (extension in dir_lookup):
                shutil.move(source, fullpath(dir_lookup[extension], filename))
            else:
                shutil.move(source, fullpath(default_path, filename))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Also, a side note: you're working with relative paths, so be careful, you should add a few checks.

For example I would add a check to see that the destination directory actually exists.

I would also add a check that the directories are what they seem. If one or more of the destination directories is actually a link to another directory or even worse to a file, you may end up overwriting stuff.

EDIT: As suggested, I added a default case when there is no match in the dictionary. Checking that the key exists is one way, and it's probably good enough for such a simple program. Another way would be to use defaultdict, but I didn't want to make it too complicated.