How to delete a symbolic link in python?

Question

I have been trying to delete some symbolic links in my working directory, but I am facing some issues.

os.remove also removes the actual contents of the original folder of the link

os.shutil throws up an error in case of symbolic links.

Is there a way to remove a symbolic link using python commands without destroying the original content?

Thanks

Strange, `os.remove()` does not remove the original file for me, only the symlink (tried with Python 2.7.2 and 3.1.4). — Frédéric Hamidi, Jul 28 '12 at 11:28
It does not remove the original file neither at my system (Python 2.7.1) — KARASZI István, Jul 28 '12 at 11:29
Smth worth-looking on symlinks: http://stackoverflow.com/a/12678252/110118 (note: shutil.rmtree would fail to remove a link, despite os.path.osdir() saying the path pertains to a dir) — mlvljr, Aug 29 '15 at 22:44
The question is about links to directories, not links to files. Removing links to directories does not work for me either. Python 2.6 — MOnsDaR, Jan 05 '16 at 07:11
@MOnsDaR Removing links to directories works for me. Python 2.7.5, CentOS 7 — Change-the-world, Oct 30 '18 at 07:09

score 55 · Accepted Answer · edited May 13 '22 at 11:58

55

os.unlink() works for me. It removes the symlink without removing the directory that it links to.

edited May 13 '22 at 11:58

knia

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answered Jul 28 '12 at 21:56

samfrances

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Python 2.7 documentation say about unlink: `This is the same function as remove();`, how did it solved the problem? – Amir Ali Akbari Apr 03 '13 at 11:20
This solution does not work on Windows for directory links created via `mklink /D`. See my answer below if that's your problem. – MOnsDaR Jan 05 '16 at 07:11
How does it work recursively to all symbolic links in a directory? – Jürgen K. Dec 08 '21 at 12:46

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

11

The accepted answer does not work on Windows with links created via mklink /D. If that is your problem the answer has been posted in this question: Delete Symlink to directory on Windows

The following code should work on both systems:

if(os.path.isdir(targetLink)):
    os.rmdir(targetLink)
else:
    os.unlink(targetLink)

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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answered Jan 05 '16 at 07:15

MOnsDaR

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akshayc11 · Answer 3 · 2012-07-29T17:36:36.957

Sorry,my Bad, I had made a stupid programming mistake : I was stupidly deleting the source instead of the links.

The correct answer is by @samfrances.

os.unlink does the trick.

In addition to this, here some other tips if you want to clear a directory using python:

Definitely not threadsafe, but you get the idea...

def rm(obj):

    if os.path.exists(obj):
        if os.path.isdir(obj):
            if os.path.islink(obj):
                 os.unlink(obj)
            else:
                shutil.rmtree(obj)
        else:
            if os.path.islink(obj):
                os.unlink(obj)
            else:
                os.remove(obj)

do `if os.path.exists(obj)` then `if os.path.islink` then `if os.path.isdir`. that way you don't need to have os.unlink twice. — QxQ, Apr 28 '13 at 04:32

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 22 '19 at 15:48

in Python 3.4 and above, If link is a file, use unlink().

>>> from pathlib import Path
>>> p = Path('/some/file/')
>>> p.unlink()

If the path points to a directory, use Path.rmdir() instead.

>>> from pathlib import Path
>>> p = Path('/some/dir/')
>>> p.rmdir()

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

2

If the directory name contains a trailing slash, the linux rm command will follow the link and try to delete the directory. See Remove a symlink to a directory. The os.remove documentation says that it will give you an OSError if you try to remove a directory but maybe that doesn't always happen in the case of symlinks.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

Community

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answered Jul 28 '12 at 11:30

John Watts

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It says `OSError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: 'test/'` for me. Probably it's implementation dependent. – KARASZI István Jul 28 '12 at 11:32
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I don't have python handy. I should have said that this was a guess. I've edited the answer. – John Watts Jul 28 '12 at 12:00
@JohnWatts Your answer is true, but this holds true only for symlinks created by the shell. symlinks created by `os.symlink` still give the same issue – akshayc11 Jul 29 '12 at 09:43
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@all: Edit:: Sorry... My Bad... I had made a stupid programming mistake... Was stupidly deleting the source instead of the links...gahhh... wasted almost a day on this... – akshayc11 Jul 29 '12 at 09:50

How to delete a symbolic link in python?

5 Answers5