Replace String in multiple text-files [SOLVED]

[AlphaInc]

Hello everybody,

In a previous post I got help to find a string in a text-file, replace it with an increasing number and save it:

import re

target = "String"

def str_counter(match_object):
    str_counter.count += 1
    return str(str_counter.count)
str_counter.count = 0

with open('input.txt', 'r') as file :
  filedata = file.read()

filedata = re.sub(re.escape(target), str_counter, filedata)

a_file = open("input.txt", "w")
text = filedata
print(text, file=a_file)
a_file.close()

Now I would like to expand this and do this for every txt-file inside a folder. Is there a way to go through the whole directory, open every file, replace the string with an increasing counter and then save it to the same file? With my posted code I am able to do this for the one specified file but I'd like to do this for every text-file.

[bowlofred]

Modify your code above to become a function. Have the function take the name of the file and operate on it.

Then use glob.glob or Path.iterdir() (or os.scandir) to get all the files in a directory that you want. Loop over them and pass the filenames or filepaths to your function.

[AlphaInc]

Modify your code above to become a function. Have the function take the name of the file and operate on it.

Then use glob.glob or Path.iterdir() (or os.scandir) to get all the files in a directory that you want. Loop over them and pass the filenames or filepaths to your function.

Sorry to be so annoying but how do i do this exactly?
I'm pretty new to python

[Axel_Erfurt]

As bowlofred already wrote, make a function and then call it for every txt file

import os

folder_path = "/path/to/folder/" # your path
            
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(folder_path, topdown = False):
   for name in files:
      if name.endswith(".txt"):
        file_name = os.path.join(root, name)
        print(file_name)
        #your_function(file_name) # call your function

[AlphaInc]

As bowlofred already wrote, make a function and then call it for every txt file

import os

folder_path = "/path/to/folder/" # your path
            
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(folder_path, topdown = False):
   for name in files:
      if name.endswith(".txt"):
        file_name = os.path.join(root, name)
        print(file_name)
        #your_function(file_name) # call your function

I tried to do it like this:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import os
import re

folder_path = "/home/pi/Workspace/Case_02/" # your path

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(folder_path, topdown = False):
   for name in files:
      if name.endswith(".txt"):
        file_name = os.path.join(root, name)

target = "Format"

def str_counter(match_object):
    str_counter.count += 1
    return str(str_counter.count)
str_counter.count = 0

with open(file_name, 'r') as file :
  filedata = file.read()

filedata = re.sub(re.escape(target), str_counter, filedata)

with open(file_name, 'w') as file:
    file.write(filedata)

I set an example with three different files (Out_01.txt, Out_02.txt, Out_03.txt) but the changes to my file were only written to Out_03.txt.

Edit: I just needed to set the right amount of spaces per indentation level.

[Axel_Erfurt]

You did not create a function and your indentations are disastrous, try this

import os
import re
 
folder_path = "/home/pi/Workspace/Case_02/" # your path
target = "Format"

def str_counter(match_object):
    str_counter.count += 1
    return str(str_counter.count)
str_counter.count = 0

def  do_it(file_name):
    with open(file_name, 'r') as file :
        filedata = file.read()
        print(filedata)
     
        filedata = re.sub(re.escape(target), str_counter, filedata)
    
        print(filedata)
     
        with open(file_name, 'w') as file:
            file.write(filedata)
            file.close()
        
for name in os.listdir(folder_path):
    if name.endswith(".txt"):
        file_name = os.path.join(folder_path, name)
        do_it(file_name)