zipfile – Read and write ZIP archive files¶
| Purpose: | Read and write ZIP archive files. |
|---|---|
| Available In: | 1.6 and later |
The zipfile module can be used to manipulate ZIP archive files.
Limitations¶
The zipfile module does not support ZIP files with appended comments, or multi-disk ZIP files. It does support ZIP files larger than 4 GB that use the ZIP64 extensions.
Testing ZIP Files¶
The is_zipfile() function returns a boolean indicating whether or not the filename passed as an argument refers to a valid ZIP file.
import zipfile
for filename in [ 'README.txt', 'example.zip',
'bad_example.zip', 'notthere.zip' ]:
print '%20s %s' % (filename, zipfile.is_zipfile(filename))
Notice that if the file does not exist at all, is_zipfile() returns False.
$ python zipfile_is_zipfile.py
README.txt False
example.zip True
bad_example.zip False
notthere.zip False
Reading Meta-data from a ZIP Archive¶
Use the ZipFile class to work directly with a ZIP archive. It supports methods for reading data about existing archives as well as modifying the archives by adding additional files.
To read the names of the files in an existing archive, use namelist():
import zipfile
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip', 'r')
print zf.namelist()
The return value is a list of strings with the names of the archive contents:
$ python zipfile_namelist.py
['README.txt']
The list of names is only part of the information available from the archive, though. To access all of the meta-data about the ZIP contents, use the infolist() or getinfo() methods.
import datetime
import zipfile
def print_info(archive_name):
zf = zipfile.ZipFile(archive_name)
for info in zf.infolist():
print info.filename
print '\tComment:\t', info.comment
print '\tModified:\t', datetime.datetime(*info.date_time)
print '\tSystem:\t\t', info.create_system, '(0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)'
print '\tZIP version:\t', info.create_version
print '\tCompressed:\t', info.compress_size, 'bytes'
print '\tUncompressed:\t', info.file_size, 'bytes'
print
if __name__ == '__main__':
print_info('example.zip')
There are additional fields other than those printed here, but deciphering the values into anything useful requires careful reading of the PKZIP Application Note with the ZIP file specification.
$ python zipfile_infolist.py
README.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 10:08:52
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 23
Compressed: 63 bytes
Uncompressed: 75 bytes
If you know in advance the name of the archive member, you can retrieve its ZipInfo object with getinfo().
import zipfile
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip')
for filename in [ 'README.txt', 'notthere.txt' ]:
try:
info = zf.getinfo(filename)
except KeyError:
print 'ERROR: Did not find %s in zip file' % filename
else:
print '%s is %d bytes' % (info.filename, info.file_size)
If the archive member is not present, getinfo() raises a KeyError.
$ python zipfile_getinfo.py
README.txt is 75 bytes
ERROR: Did not find notthere.txt in zip file
Extracting Archived Files From a ZIP Archive¶
To access the data from an archive member, use the read() method, passing the member’s name.
import zipfile
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('example.zip')
for filename in [ 'README.txt', 'notthere.txt' ]:
try:
data = zf.read(filename)
except KeyError:
print 'ERROR: Did not find %s in zip file' % filename
else:
print filename, ':'
print repr(data)
print
The data is automatically decompressed for you, if necessary.
$ python zipfile_read.py
README.txt :
'The examples for the zipfile module use this file and example.zip as data.\n'
ERROR: Did not find notthere.txt in zip file
Creating New Archives¶
To create a new archive, simple instantiate the ZipFile with a mode of 'w'. Any existing file is truncated and a new archive is started. To add files, use the write() method.
from zipfile_infolist import print_info
import zipfile
print 'creating archive'
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_write.zip', mode='w')
try:
print 'adding README.txt'
zf.write('README.txt')
finally:
print 'closing'
zf.close()
print
print_info('zipfile_write.zip')
By default, the contents of the archive are not compressed:
$ python zipfile_write.py
creating archive
adding README.txt
closing
README.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 10:08:50
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 75 bytes
Uncompressed: 75 bytes
To add compression, the zlib module is required. If zlib is available, you can set the compression mode for individual files or for the archive as a whole using zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED. The default compression mode is zipfile.ZIP_STORED.
from zipfile_infolist import print_info
import zipfile
try:
import zlib
compression = zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED
except:
compression = zipfile.ZIP_STORED
modes = { zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED: 'deflated',
zipfile.ZIP_STORED: 'stored',
}
print 'creating archive'
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_write_compression.zip', mode='w')
try:
print 'adding README.txt with compression mode', modes[compression]
zf.write('README.txt', compress_type=compression)
finally:
print 'closing'
zf.close()
print
print_info('zipfile_write_compression.zip')
This time the archive member is compressed:
$ python zipfile_write_compression.py
creating archive
adding README.txt with compression mode deflated
closing
README.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 10:08:50
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 63 bytes
Uncompressed: 75 bytes
Using Alternate Archive Member Names¶
It is easy to add a file to an archive using a name other than the original file name, by passing the arcname argument to write().
from zipfile_infolist import print_info
import zipfile
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_write_arcname.zip', mode='w')
try:
zf.write('README.txt', arcname='NOT_README.txt')
finally:
zf.close()
print_info('zipfile_write_arcname.zip')
There is no sign of the original filename in the archive:
$ python zipfile_write_arcname.py
NOT_README.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 10:08:50
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 75 bytes
Uncompressed: 75 bytes
Writing Data from Sources Other Than Files¶
Sometimes it is necessary to write to a ZIP archive using data that did not come from an existing file. Rather than writing the data to a file, then adding that file to the ZIP archive, you can use the writestr() method to add a string of bytes to the archive directly.
from zipfile_infolist import print_info
import zipfile
msg = 'This data did not exist in a file before being added to the ZIP file'
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_writestr.zip',
mode='w',
compression=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED,
)
try:
zf.writestr('from_string.txt', msg)
finally:
zf.close()
print_info('zipfile_writestr.zip')
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_writestr.zip', 'r')
print zf.read('from_string.txt')
In this case, I used the compress argument to ZipFile to compress the data, since writestr() does not take compress as an argument.
$ python zipfile_writestr.py
from_string.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 11:38:14
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 62 bytes
Uncompressed: 68 bytes
This data did not exist in a file before being added to the ZIP file
Writing with a ZipInfo Instance¶
Normally, the modification date is computed for you when you add a file or string to the archive. When using writestr(), you can also pass a ZipInfo instance to define the modification date and other meta-data yourself.
import time
import zipfile
from zipfile_infolist import print_info
msg = 'This data did not exist in a file before being added to the ZIP file'
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_writestr_zipinfo.zip',
mode='w',
)
try:
info = zipfile.ZipInfo('from_string.txt',
date_time=time.localtime(time.time()),
)
info.compress_type=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED
info.comment='Remarks go here'
info.create_system=0
zf.writestr(info, msg)
finally:
zf.close()
print_info('zipfile_writestr_zipinfo.zip')
In this example, I set the modified time to the current time, compress the data, provide a false value for create_system, and add a comment.
$ python zipfile_writestr_zipinfo.py
from_string.txt
Comment: Remarks go here
Modified: 2007-12-16 11:44:14
System: 0 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 62 bytes
Uncompressed: 68 bytes
Appending to Files¶
In addition to creating new archives, it is possible to append to an existing archive or add an archive at the end of an existing file (such as a .exe file for a self-extracting archive). To open a file to append to it, use mode 'a'.
from zipfile_infolist import print_info
import zipfile
print 'creating archive'
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_append.zip', mode='w')
try:
zf.write('README.txt')
finally:
zf.close()
print
print_info('zipfile_append.zip')
print 'appending to the archive'
zf = zipfile.ZipFile('zipfile_append.zip', mode='a')
try:
zf.write('README.txt', arcname='README2.txt')
finally:
zf.close()
print
print_info('zipfile_append.zip')
The resulting archive ends up with 2 members:
$ python zipfile_append.py
creating archive
README.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 10:08:50
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 75 bytes
Uncompressed: 75 bytes
appending to the archive
README.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 10:08:50
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 75 bytes
Uncompressed: 75 bytes
README2.txt
Comment:
Modified: 2007-12-16 10:08:50
System: 3 (0 = Windows, 3 = Unix)
ZIP version: 20
Compressed: 75 bytes
Uncompressed: 75 bytes
Python ZIP Archives¶
Since version 2.3 Python has had the ability to import modules from inside ZIP archives if those archives appear in sys.path. The PyZipFile class can be used to construct a module suitable for use in this way. When you use the extra method writepy(), PyZipFile scans a directory for .py files and adds the corresponding .pyo or .pyc file to the archive. If neither compiled form exists, a .pyc file is created and added.
import sys
import zipfile
if __name__ == '__main__':
zf = zipfile.PyZipFile('zipfile_pyzipfile.zip', mode='w')
try:
zf.debug = 3
print 'Adding python files'
zf.writepy('.')
finally:
zf.close()
for name in zf.namelist():
print name
print
sys.path.insert(0, 'zipfile_pyzipfile.zip')
import zipfile_pyzipfile
print 'Imported from:', zipfile_pyzipfile.__file__
With the debug attribute of the PyZipFile set to 3, verbose debugging is enabled and you can observe as it compiles each .py file it finds.
$ python zipfile_pyzipfile.py
Adding python files
Adding package in . as .
Compiling ./__init__.py
Adding ./__init__.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_append.py
Adding ./zipfile_append.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_getinfo.py
Adding ./zipfile_getinfo.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_infolist.py
Adding ./zipfile_infolist.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_is_zipfile.py
Adding ./zipfile_is_zipfile.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_namelist.py
Adding ./zipfile_namelist.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_printdir.py
Adding ./zipfile_printdir.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_pyzipfile.py
Adding ./zipfile_pyzipfile.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_read.py
Adding ./zipfile_read.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_write.py
Adding ./zipfile_write.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_write_arcname.py
Adding ./zipfile_write_arcname.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_write_compression.py
Adding ./zipfile_write_compression.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_writestr.py
Adding ./zipfile_writestr.pyc
Compiling ./zipfile_writestr_zipinfo.py
Adding ./zipfile_writestr_zipinfo.pyc
__init__.pyc
zipfile_append.pyc
zipfile_getinfo.pyc
zipfile_infolist.pyc
zipfile_is_zipfile.pyc
zipfile_namelist.pyc
zipfile_printdir.pyc
zipfile_pyzipfile.pyc
zipfile_read.pyc
zipfile_write.pyc
zipfile_write_arcname.pyc
zipfile_write_compression.pyc
zipfile_writestr.pyc
zipfile_writestr_zipinfo.pyc
Imported from: zipfile_pyzipfile.zip/zipfile_pyzipfile.pyc
See also
- zipfile
- The standard library documentation for this module.
- zlib
- ZIP compression library
- tarfile
- Read and write tar archives
- zipimport
- Import Python modules from ZIP archive.
- PKZIP Application Note
- Official specification for the ZIP archive format.
