
_[Photo by](https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-looking-through-a-cardboard-file-organizer-8473782/)
[Cup of Couple](https://www.pexels.com/@cup-of-couple/) on
[pexels.com](https://www.pexels.com/)_

This is a small `Python3` command-line script that organizes files into folders
based on their extension. Point it at a directory, and it sorts everything
inside into extension-named folders: `.py` files go into `python-files`, `.jpg`
files go into `jpg-files`, and so on, for a few dozen extensions covering text,
code, media, and archive formats.

The project is intentionally modularized. The extension-to-folder mapping lives
in its own `extensions.py` file as a dictionary, separate from the
`file_organizer.py` script that does the actual work. `file_organizer.py`
imports that dictionary, loops over each extension, creates the destination
folder if it doesn't already exist, and uses the `shutil` and `glob` modules to
find and move matching files.

Keeping the extension mapping separate from the logic that acts on it makes the
dictionary easy to extend or reuse without touching the core script.

## Running the application

Clone the repository and `cd` into it:

```shell
git clone https://github.com/interglobalmedia/file-organization-app.git
cd file-organization-app
```

Open `file_organizer.py` and set the `path` variable to the directory you want
organized:

```shell
path = r'/home/maria/Desktop'
```

Then run the script with:

```shell
python3 file_organizer.py
```

The script will create extension-named folders inside that directory as needed,
and move each file into its matching folder. Set `verbose = 0` in
`file_organizer.py` if you'd rather not see each file move printed to the
terminal.

## Related Resources

- [Creating a file organizer based on file extension using Python3](/blog/creating-a-file-organizer-based-on-file-extension-using-python3)
  — a full line-by-line walkthrough of the script, including the `for` loops,
  the `if` statements, and a bug I ran into (and fixed) along the way.


A Python3 script that sorts files into folders automatically based on their file extension.

projects tag: glob

File Organizer App