Junk File Organizer in Python?

Organizing files by type can save time when dealing with cluttered directories. This Python script automatically sorts files into appropriate folders based on their extensions and removes empty directories.

File Type Configuration

First, we define which file extensions belong to each category ?

import os
from pathlib import Path

DIRECTORIES = {
    "HTML": [".html5", ".html", ".htm", ".xhtml"],
    "IMAGES": [".jpeg", ".jpg", ".tiff", ".gif", ".bmp", ".png", ".bpg", ".svg",
               ".heif", ".psd"],
    "VIDEOS": [".avi", ".flv", ".wmv", ".mov", ".mp4", ".webm", ".vob", ".mng",
               ".qt", ".mpg", ".mpeg", ".3gp"],
    "DOCUMENTS": [".oxps", ".epub", ".pages", ".docx", ".doc", ".fdf", ".ods",
                  ".odt", ".pwi", ".xsn", ".xps", ".dotx", ".docm", ".dox",
                  ".rvg", ".rtf", ".rtfd", ".wpd", ".xls", ".xlsx", ".ppt",
                  ".pptx"],
    "ARCHIVES": [".a", ".ar", ".cpio", ".iso", ".tar", ".gz", ".rz", ".7z",
                 ".dmg", ".rar", ".xar", ".zip"],
    "AUDIO": [".aac", ".aa", ".dvf", ".m4a", ".m4b", ".m4p", ".mp3",
              ".msv", ".ogg", ".oga", ".raw", ".vox", ".wav", ".wma"],
    "PLAINTEXT": [".txt", ".in", ".out"],
    "PDF": [".pdf"],
    "PYTHON": [".py"],
    "XML": [".xml"],
    "EXE": [".exe"],
    "SHELL": [".sh"]
}

# Create a mapping from file extension to folder name
FILE_FORMATS = {file_format: directory
                for directory, file_formats in DIRECTORIES.items()
                for file_format in file_formats}

print("Sample mappings:")
for ext in [".py", ".jpg", ".pdf"]:
    print(f"{ext} ? {FILE_FORMATS.get(ext, 'OTHER-FILES')}")

Sample mappings:
.py ? PYTHON
.jpg ? IMAGES
.pdf ? PDF

File Organization Function

The main function scans the current directory and moves files to appropriate folders ?

def organize_files():
    """Organize files in current directory by type"""
    
    # First pass: organize known file types
    for entry in os.scandir():
        if entry.is_dir():
            continue
            
        file_path = Path(entry)
        file_format = file_path.suffix.lower()
        
        if file_format in FILE_FORMATS:
            # Create target directory if it doesn't exist
            directory_path = Path(FILE_FORMATS[file_format])
            directory_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
            
            # Move file to appropriate folder
            file_path.rename(directory_path.joinpath(file_path.name))
            print(f"Moved {file_path.name} to {directory_path}")
    
    # Create OTHER-FILES folder for remaining files
    other_files_path = Path("OTHER-FILES")
    other_files_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    
    # Second pass: move remaining files to OTHER-FILES
    for entry in os.scandir():
        if not entry.is_dir():
            file_path = Path(entry)
            target_path = other_files_path / file_path.name
            file_path.rename(target_path)
            print(f"Moved {file_path.name} to OTHER-FILES")
    
    # Remove empty directories (optional)
    for entry in os.scandir():
        if entry.is_dir():
            try:
                os.rmdir(entry.path)
                print(f"Removed empty directory: {entry.name}")
            except OSError:
                # Directory not empty, skip
                pass

Complete Script

Here's the full file organizer script ?

import os
from pathlib import Path

DIRECTORIES = {
    "HTML": [".html5", ".html", ".htm", ".xhtml"],
    "IMAGES": [".jpeg", ".jpg", ".tiff", ".gif", ".bmp", ".png", ".bpg", ".svg",
               ".heif", ".psd"],
    "VIDEOS": [".avi", ".flv", ".wmv", ".mov", ".mp4", ".webm", ".vob", ".mng",
               ".qt", ".mpg", ".mpeg", ".3gp"],
    "DOCUMENTS": [".oxps", ".epub", ".pages", ".docx", ".doc", ".fdf", ".ods",
                  ".odt", ".pwi", ".xsn", ".xps", ".dotx", ".docm", ".dox",
                  ".rvg", ".rtf", ".rtfd", ".wpd", ".xls", ".xlsx", ".ppt",
                  ".pptx"],
    "ARCHIVES": [".a", ".ar", ".cpio", ".iso", ".tar", ".gz", ".rz", ".7z",
                 ".dmg", ".rar", ".xar", ".zip"],
    "AUDIO": [".aac", ".aa", ".dvf", ".m4a", ".m4b", ".m4p", ".mp3",
              ".msv", ".ogg", ".oga", ".raw", ".vox", ".wav", ".wma"],
    "PLAINTEXT": [".txt", ".in", ".out"],
    "PDF": [".pdf"],
    "PYTHON": [".py"],
    "XML": [".xml"],
    "EXE": [".exe"],
    "SHELL": [".sh"]
}

FILE_FORMATS = {file_format: directory
                for directory, file_formats in DIRECTORIES.items()
                for file_format in file_formats}

def organize_files():
    """Organize files in current directory by type"""
    
    # Organize known file types
    for entry in os.scandir():
        if entry.is_dir():
            continue
            
        file_path = Path(entry)
        file_format = file_path.suffix.lower()
        
        if file_format in FILE_FORMATS:
            directory_path = Path(FILE_FORMATS[file_format])
            directory_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
            file_path.rename(directory_path.joinpath(file_path.name))
    
    # Move remaining files to OTHER-FILES
    other_files_path = Path("OTHER-FILES")
    other_files_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    
    for entry in os.scandir():
        if not entry.is_dir():
            file_path = Path(entry)
            file_path.rename(other_files_path / file_path.name)
    
    # Remove empty directories
    for entry in os.scandir():
        if entry.is_dir():
            try:
                os.rmdir(entry.path)
            except OSError:
                pass

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("Starting file organization...")
    organize_files()
    print("File organization completed!")

How It Works

The script follows these steps:

1. Scan files − Uses os.scandir() to iterate through current directory
2. Check extensions − Matches file extensions against the predefined categories
3. Create folders − Creates category folders using mkdir(exist_ok=True)
4. Move files − Uses Path.rename() to move files to appropriate folders
5. Handle unknowns − Moves unrecognized files to "OTHER-FILES" folder
6. Clean up − Removes empty directories

Usage Instructions

To use this script:

1. Navigate to the directory you want to organize
2. Save the script as file_organizer.py
3. Run with: python file_organizer.py

Warning: Always backup important files before running the script, as it modifies directory structure.

Conclusion

This file organizer script automatically sorts files by type into categorized folders. It's useful for cleaning cluttered directories and maintaining organized file structures with minimal manual effort.