Python is the perfect tool to automate file organization. In this article you will learn how to use Python to rename, move, copy, and delete files and folders.

I also included an example script that cleans up your Desktop.

If you prefer a video, you can watch the tutorial here:

How to navigate and change the directory in Python

You can use os.getcwd() to get the current working directory, and os.chdir() to change into another directory:

import os

print(os.getcwd())

os.chdir("/Users/patrick/Desktop/video-files")

print(os.getcwd())
# /Users/patrick/Desktop/video-files

How to rename files in Python

You can use os.rename() or pathlib.Path.rename().

This example changes filenames from

• 'dictionary - python-course-3.mov'

to -->

• '03-python-course-dictionary.mov'

import os

for file in os.listdir():
    # split into base name and extension
    name, ext = os.path.splitext(file)

    splitted = name.split("-")
    splitted = [s.strip() for s in splitted]
    new_name = f"{splitted[3].zfill(2)}-{splitted[1]}-{splitted[2]}-{splitted[0]}{ext}"

    os.rename(file, new_name)

Or as modern alternative you can usepathlib.Path:

import os
from pathlib import Path

for file in os.listdir():
    f = Path(file)

    # split into base name and extension
    name, ext = f.stem, f.suffix

    splitted = name.split("-")
    splitted = [s.strip() for s in splitted]
    new_name = f"{splitted[3].zfill(2)}-{splitted[1]}-{splitted[2]}-{splitted[0]}{ext}"

    f.rename(new_name)

How to create directories:

You can use pathlib.Path.mkdir() or os.mkdir():

from pathlib import Path
Path("data").mkdir(exist_ok=True)

# or
import os
if not os.path.exists("data"):
    os.mkdir("data")

How to move files in Python

This can be done with the shutil module:

import shutil

shutil.move('source', 'destination')  # works for file and folder

How to copy files in Python

This can be done with shutil.copy() or shutil.copy2(). The latter also copies all metadata:

import shutil

shutil.copy('source', 'destination')  # new metatags
shutil.copy2('source', 'destination')  # copies metadata, too

How to delete files and folders in Python

For files we can use os.remove() and for empty folders os.rmdir(). To recursively delete non-empty folders we can use shutil.rmtree():

os.remove("filename")  # error if not found
os.rmdir("folder")  # error if not empty, or not found
shutil.rmtree("folder")  # works for non empty directories

Organize and clean up your Desktop with Python

This example script can be used to move images, videos, screenshots, and audio files into corresponding folders.

A great way to run this script automatically is by using a cron job. In this article you can learn how to schedule Python scripts as cron jobs with crontab (Mac/Linux).

import os
import shutil


audio = (".3ga", ".aac", ".ac3", ".aif", ".aiff",
         ".alac", ".amr", ".ape", ".au", ".dss",
         ".flac", ".flv", ".m4a", ".m4b", ".m4p",
         ".mp3", ".mpga", ".ogg", ".oga", ".mogg",
         ".opus", ".qcp", ".tta", ".voc", ".wav",
         ".wma", ".wv")

video = (".webm", ".MTS", ".M2TS", ".TS", ".mov",
         ".mp4", ".m4p", ".m4v", ".mxf")

img = (".jpg", ".jpeg", ".jfif", ".pjpeg", ".pjp", ".png",
       ".gif", ".webp", ".svg", ".apng", ".avif")

def is_audio(file):
    return os.path.splitext(file)[1] in audio

def is_video(file):
    return os.path.splitext(file)[1] in video

def is_image(file):
    return os.path.splitext(file)[1] in img

def is_screenshot(file):
    name, ext = os.path.splitext(file)
    return (ext in img) and "screenshot" in name.lower()

os.chdir("/Users/patrick/Desktop")

for file in os.listdir():
    if is_audio(file):
        shutil.move(file, "Users/patrick/Documents/audio")
    elif is_video(file):
        shutil.move(file, "Users/patrick/Documents/video")
    elif is_image(file):
        if is_screenshot(file):
            shutil.move(file, "Users/patrick/Documents/screenshots")
        else:
            shutil.move(file, "Users/patrick/Documents/images")
    else:
        shutil.move(file, "Users/patrick/Documents")