Move files from one directory to another with Paramiko

Question

I have a script that creates and tmp directory on an SFTP server and then puts files in said /tmp once the transfer is complete however I need to move the files from /tmp back one directory to root /. Use Paramiko how would I move the files from one remote directory to another?

Step guide:

Local files -----> Remote Temporary Dir ----> Remote root Dir

Code below if needed:

#!/usr/bin/python

# --------------------------------------------------------------------
#import libraries
# --------------------------------------------------------------------
import paramiko as PM
import os
import datetime

# --------------------------------------------------------------------
# Global Variables
# --------------------------------------------------------------------

host = 'host IP address'
port = 22
username = 'Username'
password = '*********'

# Variable Paths

localPath = '/shares/MILKLINK/fromML'
remotePath = '/'
logPath = '/shares/MILKLINK/logs/PPcfg02.log'
SRCfiles = '/shares/MILKLINK/Milklink.cpy'

# --------------------------------------------------------------------
#  Create LOG FILE
# --------------------------------------------------------------------

log = open(logPath, 'a')
log.write(datetime.datetime.now().isoformat()+'\n')

# Creating lockfile

if(os.path.isfile('LockSFTP')):
    log.write("LOCK FILE STILL EXISTS!")
    quit()
else:    
    os.system(">LockSFTP")

# --------------------------------------------------------------------
# Remove all files from /formML/ 
# --------------------------------------------------------------------

fileList = os.listdir(localPath)
for fileName in fileList:
    try:
        os.remove(localPath+"/"+fileName)
    except OSError:
        log.write("%s could not be deleted\n" % fileName)

# --------------------------------------------------------------------
#  Create SFTP CONNECTION
# --------------------------------------------------------------------

log.write("Starting Connection...\n")
# SSH connection
ssh_Connection = PM.Transport((host, port))
ssh_Connection.connect(username = username, password = password)

# Creaat SFTP CLIENT SERVICES
sftp = PM.SFTPClient.from_transport(ssh_Connection) 

log.write("Connection Established...\n")

remoteList = sftp.listdir(remotePath)
fileList = os.listdir(SRCfiles)
try:
    sftp.chdir(remotePath+'/tmp')
except IOError:
    sftp.mkdir(remotePath+'/tmp')
    sftp.chdir(remotePath+'/tmp')

for fileName in fileList:
    if 'comphaulier.asc' not in remoteList:
        if 'Last' in fileName:
            continue
        else:
            sftp.put(SRCfiles+'/'+fileName, remotePath+'/tmp/'+fileName)

        log.write(fileName+" Transferred\n")
    else:
        log.write("Files Still Exist\n")
        log.close()
        quit()

checkList = sftp.listdir(remotePath)

if len(checkList) == 7:
    sftp.put(SRCfiles+'/LastFile.lst', remotePath+'/LastFile.lst')
    log.write("LastFile.lst Transferred\n")
else:
    log.write("Not all files transferred!!!\n")
    quit()

sftp.close()
ssh_Connection.close()

os.system("rm LockSFTP")

Answer 1

Use the sftp.rename:

sftp.rename(remotePath+'/tmp/'+fileName, remotePath+fileName)

Note that some SFTP servers fail the request, if the source and target directories are on different file systems.

---

If you need to move set of files from one folder to another, see:
Archive all files from one SFTP folder to another in Python

Answer 2

I would suggest having also some safeguards. Sometimes the library will raise an IOError in certain conditions (the destination file exists already or the file to move does not exist). I will assume you have an sftp client sftp_client

def move_file(self, source, destination):
    destination_file_exists = __file_exists(destination)
    source_file_exists = __file_exists(source)
    if destination_file_exists:
        # handle the condition accordingly
        print(f"destination file {destination} already exists")
    else:
        if source_file_exists:
            sftp_client.rename(source, destination)
        else:
            # handle the condition accordingly
            print(f"source file {source} does not exist")

def __file_exists(file_path):
    try:
        sftp_client.stat(file_path)
        return True
    except FileNotFoundError as e:
        return False
    except Exception as e:
        print(e)