Zipfile Module
TL;DR
The zipfile module provides tools for creating, reading, and extracting ZIP archives with support for multiple compression methods and password protection.
Interesting!
The module supports ZIP64 extensions, allowing you to work with ZIP files larger than 4GB and containing more than 65,535 files - breaking traditional ZIP format limits!
Creating ZIP Archives
python code snippet start
from zipfile import ZipFile
# Create a new ZIP file
with ZipFile('my_archive.zip', 'w') as zipf:
zipf.write('document.txt')
zipf.write('image.png')
zipf.writestr('hello.txt', 'Hello, World!')python code snippet end
Reading ZIP Contents
python code snippet start
with ZipFile('my_archive.zip', 'r') as zipf:
# List all files
print(zipf.namelist())
# Read a specific file
with zipf.open('hello.txt') as f:
content = f.read().decode('utf-8')
print(content)python code snippet end
Extracting Files
python code snippet start
with ZipFile('my_archive.zip', 'r') as zipf:
# Extract all files
zipf.extractall('destination/')
# Extract specific file
zipf.extract('document.txt', 'specific/path/')python code snippet end
Compression Methods
python code snippet start
from zipfile import ZipFile, ZIP_DEFLATED, ZIP_BZIP2
with ZipFile('compressed.zip', 'w', compression=ZIP_DEFLATED) as zipf:
zipf.write('large_file.txt')python code snippet end
The zipfile module makes archive management straightforward while handling complex ZIP format details behind the scenes. Use zipfile with pathlib for file management and glob for batch operations . For secure file handling, combine with temporary directories and gzip compression for different compression needs.
Reference: zipfile — Work with ZIP archives