[python] Copy file or directories recursively in Python

Python seems to have functions for copying files (e.g. shutil.copy) and functions for copying directories (e.g. shutil.copytree) but I haven't found any function that handles both. Sure, it's trivial to check whether you want to copy a file or a directory, but it seems like a strange omission.

Is there really no standard function that works like the unix cp -r command, i.e. supports both directories and files and copies recursively? What would be the most elegant way to work around this problem in Python?

To add on Tzot's and gns answers, here's an alternative way of copying files and folders recursively. (Python 3.X)

import os, shutil

root_src_dir = r'C:\MyMusic'    #Path/Location of the source directory
root_dst_dir = 'D:MusicBackUp'  #Path to the destination folder

for src_dir, dirs, files in os.walk(root_src_dir):
    dst_dir = src_dir.replace(root_src_dir, root_dst_dir, 1)
    if not os.path.exists(dst_dir):
        os.makedirs(dst_dir)
    for file_ in files:
        src_file = os.path.join(src_dir, file_)
        dst_file = os.path.join(dst_dir, file_)
        if os.path.exists(dst_file):
            os.remove(dst_file)
        shutil.copy(src_file, dst_dir)

Should it be your first time and you have no idea how to copy files and folders recursively, I hope this helps.

Unix cp doesn't 'support both directories and files':

betelgeuse:tmp james$ cp source/ dest/
cp: source/ is a directory (not copied).

To make cp copy a directory, you have to manually tell cp that it's a directory, by using the '-r' flag.

There is some disconnect here though - cp -r when passed a filename as the source will happily copy just the single file; copytree won't.

shutil.copy and shutil.copy2 are copying files.

shutil.copytree copies a folder with all the files and all subfolders. shutil.copytree is using shutil.copy2 to copy the files.

So the analog to cp -r you are saying is the shutil.copytree because cp -r targets and copies a folder and its files/subfolders like shutil.copytree. Without the -r cp copies files like shutil.copy and shutil.copy2 do.

The python shutil.copytree method its a mess. I've done one that works correctly:

def copydirectorykut(src, dst):
    os.chdir(dst)
    list=os.listdir(src)
    nom= src+'.txt'
    fitx= open(nom, 'w')

    for item in list:
        fitx.write("%s\n" % item)
    fitx.close()

    f = open(nom,'r')
    for line in f.readlines():
        if "." in line:
            shutil.copy(src+'/'+line[:-1],dst+'/'+line[:-1])
        else:
            if not os.path.exists(dst+'/'+line[:-1]):
                os.makedirs(dst+'/'+line[:-1])
                copydirectorykut(src+'/'+line[:-1],dst+'/'+line[:-1])
            copydirectorykut(src+'/'+line[:-1],dst+'/'+line[:-1])
    f.close()
    os.remove(nom)
    os.chdir('..')