Python create directory error Cannot create a file when that file already exists

Question

I'm trying to create directories only if they don't exist using Python.

If the directory doesn't exist the script runs fine. But if it's already there I get an error that says:

An error has occurred: [WinError 183] Cannot create a file when that file already exists: '..\\..\\source_files\\aws_accounts_list'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File ".\aws_ec2_list_instances.py", line 781, in <module>
    main()
  File ".\aws_ec2_list_instances.py", line 654, in main
    mongo_export_to_file(interactive, aws_account, aws_account_number)
  File "C:\Users\tdun0002\OneDrive - Synchronoss Technologies\Desktop\important_folders\Jokefire\git\jf_cloud_scripts\aws_scripts\python\aws_tools\ec2_mongo.py", line 292, in mongo_export_to_file
    create_directories()
  File "C:\Users\tdun0002\OneDrive - Synchronoss Technologies\Desktop\important_folders\Jokefire\git\jf_cloud_scripts\aws_scripts\python\aws_tools\ec2_mongo.py", line 117, in create_directories
    os.makedirs(source_files_path)
  File "C:\Users\tdun0002\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\os.py", line 223, in makedirs
    mkdir(name, mode)
FileExistsError: [WinError 183] Cannot create a file when that file already exists: '..\\..\\source_files\\aws_accounts_list'

This is my code:

def create_directories():
    ## Set source and output file directories
    source_files_path = os.path.join('..', '..', 'source_files', 'aws_accounts_list')

    # Create output files directory
    try:
        os.makedirs(source_files_path)
    except OSError as e:
        print(f"An error has occurred: {e}")
        raise

I want the exception to allow the script to continue if it encounters an error like this. How can I do that?

Answer 1

From Python 3.4, with pathlib this becomes quite an easy task using Path.mkdir:

from pathlib import Path

def create_directories():
    ## Set source and output file directories
    source_files_path = Path('..', '..', 'source_files', 'aws_accounts_list')

    # Create output files directory
    source_files_oath.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

---

If you insist on os, then makedirs has another argument since Python 3.2 - exist_ok, which is:

If exist_ok is False (the default), an FileExistsError is raised if the target directory already exists.

So just change to:

os.makedirs(source_files_path, exist_ok=True)