5.11 The zipfile Module

(New in 2.0) The zipfile module allows you to read and write files in the popular ZIP archive format.

5.11.1 Listing the Contents

To list the contents of an existing archive, you can use the namelist and infolist methods used in Example 5-20. The former returns a list of filenames, and the latter returns a list of ZipInfo instances.

Example 5-20. Using the zipfile Module to List Files in a ZIP File

File: zipfile-example-1.py

import zipfile

file = zipfile.ZipFile("samples/sample.zip", "r")

# list filenames
for name in file.namelist():
    print name,
print

# list file information
for info in file.infolist():
    print info.filename, info.date_time, info.file_size

sample.txt sample.jpg
sample.txt (1999, 9, 11, 20, 11, 8) 302
sample.jpg (1999, 9, 18, 16, 9, 44) 4762

5.11.2 Reading Data from a ZIP File

To read data from an archive, simply use the read method used in Example 5-21. It takes a filename as an argument and returns the data as a string.

Example 5-21. Using the zipfile Module to Read Data from a ZIP File

File: zipfile-example-2.py

import zipfile

file = zipfile.ZipFile("samples/sample.zip", "r")

for name in file.namelist():
    data = file.read(name)
    print name, len(data), repr(data[:10])

sample.txt 302 'We will pe'
sample.jpg 4762 '\377\330\377\340\000\020JFIF'

5.11.3 Writing Data to a ZIP File

Adding files to an archive is easy. Just pass the filename, and the name you want that file to have in the archive, to the write method.

The script in Example 5-22 creates a ZIP file containing all files in the samples directory.

Example 5-22. Using the zipfile Module to Store Files in a ZIP File

File: zipfile-example-3.py

import zipfile
import glob, os

# open the zip file for writing, and write stuff to it

file = zipfile.ZipFile("test.zip", "w")

for name in glob.glob("samples/*"):
    file.write(name, os.path.basename(name), zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)

file.close()

# open the file again, to see what's in it

file = zipfile.ZipFile("test.zip", "r")
for info in file.infolist():
    print info.filename, info.date_time, info.file_size, info.compress_size

sample.wav (1999, 8, 15, 21, 26, 46) 13260 10985
sample.jpg (1999, 9, 18, 16, 9, 44) 4762 4626
sample.au (1999, 7, 18, 20, 57, 34) 1676 1103
...

The third, optional argument to the write method controls what compression method to use or, rather, it controls whether data should be compressed at all. The default is zipfile.ZIP_STORED, which stores the data in the archive without any compression at all. If the zlib module is installed, you can also use zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED, which gives you "deflate" compression.

The zipfile module also allows you to add strings to the archive. However, adding data from a string is a bit tricky; instead of just passing in the archive name and the data, you have to create a ZipInfo instance and configure it correctly. Example 5-23 offers a simple solution.

Example 5-23. Using the zipfile Module to Store Strings in a ZIP File

File: zipfile-example-4.py

import zipfile
import glob, os, time

file = zipfile.ZipFile("test.zip", "w")

now = time.localtime(time.time())[:6]

for name in ("life", "of", "brian"):
    info = zipfile.ZipInfo(name)
    info.date_time = now
    info.compress_type = zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED
    file.writestr(info, name*1000)

file.close()

# open the file again, to see what's in it

file = zipfile.ZipFile("test.zip", "r")

for info in file.infolist():
    print info.filename, info.date_time, info.file_size, info.compress_size

life (2000, 12, 1, 0, 12, 1) 4000 26
of (2000, 12, 1, 0, 12, 1) 2000 18
brian (2000, 12, 1, 0, 12, 1) 5000 31