How to use the mv command in Python with subprocess
mv, python, stat, subprocess, unix
Solution
if you call subprocess that way:
subprocess.call(["mv", "/home/somedir/subdir/*", "somedir/"])
you're actually giving the argument `/home/somedir/subdir/*` to the `mv` command, with an actual `*` file. i.e. you're actually trying to move the `*` file.
subprocess.call("mv /home/somedir/subdir/* somedir/", shell=True)
it will use the shell that will expand the first argument.
Nota Bene: when using the `shell=True` argument you need to change your argument list into a string that will be given to the shell.
Hint: You can also use the `os.rename()` or `shutil.move()` functions, along with `os.path.walk()` or `os.listdir()` to move the files to destination in a more pythonic way.
Problem
I have a lot of files in /home/somedir/subdir/ and I'm trying to move them all up to /home/somedir programmatically. right now I have this: ``` subprocess.call(["mv", "/home/somedir/subdir/*", "somedir/"]) ``` but it's giving me this error: ``` mv: cannot stat `/home/somedir/subdir/*': No such file or directory ``` I know that it does exist because when I type the mv command by hand using the exact same command as the script uses it works perfectly.