How to make scripts auto-delete at the end of execution?

Question

Is it possible to make a python script that will delete the .py file at the end of its execution (self-delete) in windows?

Answer 1

There is a rather simple method:

import os   

os.remove("insert the file's path")

If you're facing problems, place an 'r' before the starting quotations mark.

Answer 2

I'm not sure deleting a file while it's in memory would be a good idea. Try running a batch file from the script which closes the script process, then deletes the script file.

There may be a native method to self destruct a script, but I am not aware of it.

EDIT: Here is a simple example of how you could accomplish this using the method I described:

In the script

# C:\test.py
import os
os.startfile(r"C:\sampleBatch.bat")

In the batch

# C:\sampleBatch.bat
TASKKILL /IM "process name" #For me, this was "ipy64.exe" because I use IronPython.
DEL "C:\test.py"

You may not even need to kill the process to delete the file, but it is safer to do so. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Yes, you could use the following:

import os
import sys
import subprocess

# execute and remove after run
(Your python code)
# end of file

dir = os.getcwd()
os.remove(dir+'\%s' % sys.argv[0])

This script can be modified of course, but besides that this should work

Answer 4

This way makes your program non OS dependant.

from os import remove
from sys import argv

remove(argv[0])

Bonus points: When parsing arguments the very first argument that you get in sys.argv is equals to "path-to-filename/filename.py"

Answer 5

Neomind's answer seems to do the trick. But if deleting the file while it's in memory bothers you, and you're looking for a pure python solution, then you could use subprocess to create a new process with the explicit purpose of deleting your original script file. Something like this should work:

import sys, subprocess 
subprocess.Popen("python -c \"import os, time; time.sleep(1); os.remove('{}');\"".format(sys.argv[0]))
sys.exit(0)

You probably wouldn't need the timeout in there but I've added it just to make sure that the process from the original script has been given enough time to close itself.