First post and looking for help

[coder2be]

Hi all

My first post here (complete novice)

I have no python experience but wonder if it will be a good choice for what I would like to create?
I've only really done HTML and CSS but that was a few years ago.

To get my head into coding I want to create a simple tool to help server admins for a game I play.

The game is Unreal Tournament 99. When adding new maps to a server, you have to place the different file types in different folders. Not a big problem if you adding one or two maps but can be time consuming if wanting to add lots of maps in one go. What I would like to try and create is a script or a tool that does the following:

The server admin manually creates the following folders inside a folder on their desktop:

Maps
Textures
Sounds
Music
System

In that top level folder that contains these subfolders, they unzip all of the new maps/content they want to upload to their server. So now you will have loads of files and those manually created folders.

FYI:

Maps have a .unr extension
Music have a .umx extension
Sounds have a .uax extension
Textures have a .utx extension
System have a .u extension

The server admin then runs the script/tool that moves all of the files into the correct folder.

Any other files would simply be left in the top directory (readme text files etc). Perhaps the script/tool could create those subfolders as well before then moving in the respective files?

I hope this makes sense? Seems a simple thing to create and I think it could help me understand a few things about coding.

Could Python do something like this for me? Or should I consider another language?

I'm not looking for anyone to do it for me - no point as I won't learn.

Just want to understand if Python is a good choice to accomplish this plus any tips you can give me with where to start?

Many thanks and warm greetings.

[wavic]

Python is one language to do that. Another way is to use some bash scripting.
Both will do what you want pretty well.

[j.crater]

Hello and welcome to Python and the Forums!
Python is very well suited for what you are attemping to achieve.
For navigating and manipulating files & directories take a look at Python's "os" and "pathlib" builtin modules. Though I haven't used "zipfile" module yet, I believe it will handle the (un)zipping your program needs.
Feel free to start a thread if you need help, advice, hit an error etc.

As @wavic suggested, Bash is a good choice if this will be your one-off attempt at coding. But if your plan is also to learn a general purpose programming language along the way, then it is a great starter project to dive into Python :)

[coder2be]

Thank you for the very speedy and helpful replies.
I think I will stick with Python as it is something I want to learn more :)

I'll do some research and make a start.