Shutilcopy2

Shutilcopy2 is a function in Python's shutil module, which is part of the standard library. It is used to copy the contents of a source file to a destination file or directory. The function is similar to shutil.copy, but with an additional feature: it preserves the metadata of the original file, such as the timestamp, in the copied file. This can be useful when you need to maintain the original file's properties after copying.

The shutilcopy2 function takes two arguments: the source file path and the destination file path. If the destination is a directory, the source file will be copied into that directory with the same name. If the destination is a file, the source file will be copied to that file, overwriting it if it already exists.

Here is an example of how to use shutilcopy2:

import shutil

source = 'path/to/source/file.txt'

destination = 'path/to/destination/file.txt'

shutil.copy2(source, destination)

In this example, the contents of 'file.txt' in the source directory are copied to 'file.txt' in the destination directory, and the metadata of the original file is preserved in the copied file.

It's important to note that shutilcopy2 requires the source file to exist and have read permissions. It also requires write permissions for the destination directory or file. If the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten. If the destination directory does not exist, a FileNotFoundError will be raised.

Shutilcopy2 is a convenient and efficient way to copy files while preserving their metadata, making it a useful tool for file management tasks in Python.