problem with python script

[laplace/d]

this is my first python script (and my first script) so forget about the style... i'm trying to read the locations of some songs on a m3u playlist file and after that copying the songs in a folder...


#!/usr/bin/python

import shutil

def extloc(flines):
flines = flines[1:]
length = len(flines)
cont = 0
loc = []
for i in range(1,length,2):
loc.append(flines[i])
return loc


f = open('/home/simon/Desktop/boogie.m3u')
flines = f.readlines()
loc = extloc(flines)
for i in range(len(loc)):
aux = loc[i]
aux = aux[:-1]
shutil.copy(aux,'home/simon/Desktop/boogie')

everything seem to work fine (the interpreter displays no error) and still, when i run it, no file is copied to the folder.

[Joeb454]

Moved to Programming Talk

[snova]

Perhaps a missing slash in the pathname where you move the files to?

'home/simon' -> '/home/simon'.

Also, is aux[:-1] used to remove the trailing newline? There's an easier way, aux.strip().

Additionally, this is more complicated than necessary:


for i in range(len(loc)):
aux = loc[i]
aux = aux[:-1]

Instead, why not just iterate over the list itself?


for aux in loc:
aux = aux.strip()

Note that I may not have actually fixed the bug, since I don't entirely understand your script...

[ssam]

a good way to debug something like this is to put in some out put.eg before you do

shutil.copy(aux,'home/simon/Desktop/boogie')
put a line

print "aux =",aux
if the code is working correctly then this should print the original locations of of all the files. if prints nothing at all you might suspect that
loc is empty, so print out
loc.

work back until you find where what the code is actually doing deviates from what you think/want it to do.

another shortcut for your code
instead of doing


for i in range(len(loc)):
print loc[i]

use


for this_loc in loc:
print this_loc


you can do the same to read the file a line at a time (to save you having to read a whole file into memory)



for line in open(filename):
process(line)

[laplace/d]

thanx!, the problem was the location was wrong, i forgot the first '/' before 'home' (duh!)...
regarding this piece of code piece of code:


for aux in loc:
aux = aux.strip()

isn't the method 'strip' only for lists?... i tried what u suggested using strip and it doesn't work.

[snova]

thanx!, the problem was the location was wrong, i forgot the first '/' before 'home' (duh!)...
regarding this piece of code piece of code:


for aux in loc:
aux = aux.strip()

isn't the method 'strip' only for lists?... i tried what u suggested using strip and it doesn't work.

The opposite actually, it's only for strings.

[laplace/d]

cool man, thanx, i forgot something again, thats why it wasn't working.
i forgot to write

for aux in loc: