Problems using shutil.copytree() in python

Question

I'm trying to use shutil.copytree(libEntity,newDir) in my python program and I'm getting the following error: FileExistsError: [WinError 183] Cannot create a file when that file already exists: 'C:\Users\newDir

Basically it complains that the destination directory newDir already exists.

I thought that was the purpose of using shutil.copytree? I'm using Python 3.8.5 on Windows 10

I also tried 'distutils.dir_util.copy_tree(libEntity,newDir)' but this doesn't work correctly. It copies all of the files from the source directory but it does not preserve directory structure in the destination folder, rather it creates the the destination folder (newDir) and puts all of the source files in the destination folder without the creating the directory tree. This is not helpful.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

• alani: Suggestions to do what exactly? The doc for copytree says "The destination directory must not already exist." What is it at the moment? An empty directory?
• user13824946: great tutorial to follow google.com/amp/s/www.geeksforgeeks.org/…

Answer 1

There is a parameter: dirs_exist_ok and the default is False. Use it with True.

shutil.copytree(libEntity,newDir,dirs_exist_ok=True)

• Diggee17: I get the error :TypeError: copy_tree() got an unexpected keyword argument 'dirs_exist_ok' when I add the dir_exist_ok part
• Rocky K: It is likely that you are using Python 3.7 or earlier. From the shutil.pyi file, dirs_exist_ok is defined only in if sys.version_info >= (3, 8), that is, Python 3.8 or later.
• MinneapolisCoder9: While likely, it seems not always the case. While getting this error, I also checked python version via import sys; sys.version and confirmed 3.8+.