How to delete a file in Python with examples

By Saruque Ahamed Mollick

In order to delete a file in Python, you have to import the os module. In this tutorial, you will learn how to delete a file in Python with some easy examples. The function we are going to use to delete a file from a directory is os.remove()

Delete a file in Python

Here we are going to show you how to delete a file from a directory with an easy example.

We have a text file in our directory. The file name of the text file is: this_is_file.txt

( os.remove() can delete any type of file, this is not necessary to be a text file )

Now we are going to write a Python program in the same directory to delete the file.

import os
os.remove('this_is_file.txt')

If we run this program, this_is_file.txt will be deleted from the directory.

If your file is located in other sub-directory than you can simply put the path instead of the file name to delete the file

import os
os.remove('path')

You can use both single quote and double quote to surround the path of the file.

os.remove in Python

Return Type: It does not return any value.

Parameter: Path of the file is to be passed as a parameter surrounded by single quotes or double quotes.

os.rmdir in Python to delete an entire directory

import os
os.rmdir('directory')

Return Type: It does not return any value.

Parameter: Directory or directory path is to be passed as a parameter surrounded by single quotes or double quotes.

Special note:

It will only delete an empty directory.

To delete an entire directory with all of its contents you have to use the following:

 shutil.rmtree(mydir)