Python | os.rmdir() method

os.rmdir() method in Python is used to remove or delete an empty directory. OSError will be raised if the specified path is not an empty directory.

All functions in the OS module raise OSError in the case of invalid or inaccessible file names and paths, or other arguments that have the correct type, but are not accepted by the operating system.

os.rmdir() Method Syntax in Python

Syntax: os.rmdir(path, *, dir_fd = None)

Parameter:

• path: A path-like object representing a file path. A path-like object is either a string or bytes object representing a path.
• dir_fd (optional) : A file descriptor referring to a directory. The default value of this parameter is None. If the specified path is absolute then dir_fd is ignored.
• Note: The ‘*’ in parameter list indicates that all following parameters (Here in our case ‘dir_fd’) are keyword-only parameters and they can be provided using their name, not as positional parameter.

Return Type: This method does not return any value.

Python os.rmdir() Method Example

Below are some examples by which we can understand how to delete an empty directory with os.rmdir() in Python:

Remove an Empty Directory Using os.rmdir() Method

In this example, we will see how to delete an empty directory with os.rmdir() in Python. Here, we are using the OS module to remove a directory named “ihritik” located at the path “/home/User/Documents”. It combines the parent and directory names to create the complete path using os.path.join() function.

Python3

# importing os module
import os

# Directory name
directory = "ihritik"

# Parent Directory
parent = "/home/User/Documents"

path = os.path.join(parent, directory)

# Remove the Directory
os.rmdir(path)
print("Directory '%s' has been removed successfully" %directory)

Output:

Directory 'ihritik' has been removed successfully

Remove Directory and Handle Exceptions Using os.rmdir() in Python

In this example, the code uses the os module to attempt to remove a directory named “ihritik” located at the path “/home/User/Documents”. It combines the parent and directory names to create the complete path using os.path.join() function.

Python3

# importing os module
import os

# Directory name
directory = "ihritik"

# Parent Directory
parent = "/home/User/Documents"

path = os.path.join(parent, directory)

# Remove the Directory
try:
    os.rmdir(path)
    print("Directory '%s' has been removed successfully" %directory)
except OSError as error:
    print(error)
    print("Directory '%s' can not be removed" %directory)

Output:

[Errno 13] Permission denied: '/home/User/Documents/ihritik'
Directory 'ihritik' can not be removed