I am processing files, but need to be sure there are no other apps currently using the file which could change the data.
I have searched the internet for a couple of hours and have not been able to find a method to do it.
Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.
You can't find it because it cannot be done. Even if it could be done, it would offer almost no protection. Most applications that process files do not keep files open. They open the file for reading, read the contents, close the file, process the contents, open the file for writing, write the new contents to the file, close the file.
In Linux you could perhaps obtain something by using the flock command.
File Locking Libraries: Another option is to use third-party libraries that provide file locking functionality. These libraries allow you to explicitly lock files and check if they are currently locked by another process.
For example, you can use the filelock library in Python to acquire and release file locks. Here's an example:
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from filelock import FileLock
file_path = 'path_to_your_file'
# Acquire a file lock
lock = FileLock(file_path)
# Try acquiring the lock, wait for a certain period if the file is already locked
lock.acquire(timeout=10) # Specify a timeout in seconds
# File is now locked, proceed with processing
# Release the lock when done
lock.release()
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