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Hands-on Lab·Python Automation for IT

Python Archives and Bulk File Operations

Copying a tree, moving files, making a backup archive and unpacking somebody else's - all of it is `shutil` and two archive modules, and none of it needs a subprocess. This guide also contains the most convincing demonstration of module shadowing in the whole path, because it happened to this capture: a script named `copy.py` broke `shutil.make_archive`.

Files and Data Formats Guide 16 of 39 Intermediate

Written against the versions above. `tarfile` extraction **filters** arrived in Python 3.12 and `filter="data"` becomes the default in 3.14 - which is why this guide passes it explicitly rather than relying on the version. `zstdtar` in the format list is new in 3.14.

Everything on this page runs on the control node. Any machine with Python 3 will do.
Server NameIP AddressOSRolesCPURAMHDD
RUNNER01192.168.0.27Ubuntu 26.04 LTSControl node - every script in this path runs here2 Core4 GB50 GB

Before you start

  1. A tree to work on

  2. Copy one file, with or without its metadata

  3. Copy a whole tree

  4. Move, and rename

  5. rmtree, and the guard it deserves

  6. An archive of a directory, in one call

  7. tarfile and zipfile, when you need control

  8. Extracting somebody else's archive safely

  9. Disk space and finding a binary

  10. The accident this capture had, kept on purpose

Official sources

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