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pythonwindowsself-destruction

How to make scripts auto-delete at the end of execution?

Is it possible to make a python script that will delete the .py file at the end of its execution (self-delete) in windows?

Solution

  • I'm not sure deleting a file while it's in memory would be a good idea. Try running a batch file from the script which closes the script process, then deletes the script file.

    There may be a native method to self destruct a script, but I am not aware of it.

    EDIT: Here is a simple example of how you could accomplish this using the method I described:

    In the script

    # C:\test.py
import os
os.startfile(r"C:\sampleBatch.bat")

    In the batch

    # C:\sampleBatch.bat
TASKKILL /IM "process name" #For me, this was "ipy64.exe" because I use IronPython.
DEL "C:\test.py"

    You may not even need to kill the process to delete the file, but it is safer to do so. Hope this helps.