How to perform the linux equivalent of "cp -r" in python

Question

How to recursively copy directories (cp -r) in Python?

os.copytree results in FileExistsError: [Errno 17] File exists:.

And distutils.dir_util.copy_tree raises AttributeError: module 'distutils' has no attribute 'dir_util'

How to perform the linux equivalent on cp -r in Python?

Answer 1

Using distutils, you may want to import like this if you notice the AttributeError:

import distutils
from distutils import dir_util
distutils.dir_util.copy_tree("sourceDir", "dstDir")

Alternatively, you can use subprocess:

import subprocess
subprocess.call('cp -r sourceDir dstDir', shell=True)