Python temporary working directory copy

28 July, 2023

When using Python with an external program that expects a subdirectory to create and load multiple files, it can be convenient to use tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() to create a temporary working directory and copy out all files if the call to the external program succeeds.

from pathlib import Path
import tempfile
import subprocess
import shutil
import uuid

file = Path(f"~/{uuid.uuid4().hex}.txt").expanduser()
# toy file
file.write_text("Hello World!")

with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(ignore_cleanup_errors=True) as f:
    shutil.copy(file, f)
    subprocess.check_call(["cat", Path(f) / file.name])

    new_dir = file.parent / f"{file.stem}"
    print(f"\n{file}  Solved, copy to {new_dir}")
    shutil.copytree(f, new_dir)