How to Access Recycle-Bin in Python
How to Access Recycle-bin with Python, and get rid of the hassle for viewing deleted files directly.
All of our deleted files and folders move to Recycle-Bin temporarily, before they vanish from existence permanently. But have you ever deleted an important file or a folder by mistake and by the moment you realized it, the name of file is long gone from your memory. Traditional Recycle-Bin that comes with our very own Windows or any other OS, only shows you the list of files and folders that you’ve deleted, along with the location from where it was deleted, as a reference but it doesn’t allow you to open any file or folder unless you restore it. Too much hassle just to find one single file, Right?
There’s a library in Python, with which you can access the Recycle-Bin and its items easily, through which you can code along to make the right program to find your deleted important file without that much of a hassle.
Start by installing the library “winshell”:
pip install winshellWinshell library has a module named “recycle_bin()” , which returns a list of objects of recycle-bin items.
In order to print the list of items present in recycle-bin, the code below can be used.
In the above code, the list of objects of recycle-bin items is being iterated over a loop inside the enumerate function.
enumerate() is a python built-in function that returns 2 parameters i.e index and value of a list.
Inside the loop the original_filename() method is called of every object coming form the list.
Original_filename() method returns the path of the file/folder from which it was deleted.
Now comes the part of viewing the file or a folder right from the Recycle-bin.
In order to do this, the index of that file/folder should be noted first. Store its object inside a variable by the index and then undelete it with winshell.undelete() method. Once the file/folder is undeleted, Read its content by using its path, and after that delete it again immediately with winshell.delete_file() .
Accessing File:
In the above code:
- The deleted item object of a file was accessed by index and into variable “obj”.
- Since Python accepts path containing “\\” in it and obj.original_filename() return path with “\”. So that in the properPath variable, path containing the “\\” is saved.
- The selected file is undeleted by winshell.undelete() method, providing the path from obj.original_filename() method [winshell library methods accepts and returns the path containing “\” that’s why the path was given by the original_filename() method].
- Reading the content of file by opening the file with open() function with “r” as a parameter for reading purpose, and then file.read() is used to save all the content inside the file, then closed the file with file.close().
- Once after the content is read successfully, the file is deleted again with winshell.delete_file() method by giving it path by obj.original_fileneme() method.
Accessing Folder:
In the above code:
- The deleted item object of a folder was accessed by index and into variable “obj”.
- The “\” path was updated to “\\” path in properPath variable.
- The selected file is undeleted by winshell.undelete() method, providing the path from obj.original_filename() method.
- Reading list of file/folders inside our selected folder by using os.listdir method in which the “\\” path is given as a parameter from the properPath variable.
os.listdir() method returns the list of files/folders , of the folder given as parameter.
- Once after the content is read successfully, the folder is deleted again with winshell.delete_file() method by giving it path by obj.original_fileneme() method.
This way we can view the content of all files/folders inside the recycle-bin without that much of a hassle.
You can now be sure of which file/folder to keep, and which to delete permanently , after viewing what’s inside it.
[ One thing to keep in mind is that winshell.recycle_bin() returns the list of deleted items and the list get shuffled on every execution. Means that your file/folder may be at index 3, but when you’ll re-run the program/code it may got to index 5 now ]
This was all about Accessing Recycle-Bin and deleted items in Python.
There’s a whole program coded on Command line interface in the repository below.
In order to access the CLI program , follow the steps below.
Start by cloning this repository.
$ git clone https://github.com/shahzaibk23/Trash-VisualiserOnce after the cloning is successful, cd into repo folder.
cd Trash-Visualiser/src/CLI/Then:
python main.py
There’s also a GUI based version available, with which you can get out this hassle in a better visual representation of everything, found in the same repository.
In order to run it , follow the steps below:
Start by cloning the Repository
$ git clone https://github.com/shahzaibk23/Trash-VisualiserAfter cloning is successful, cd into repo folder
cd Trash-VisualiserThen run the launcher
python launcher.py
This may happen that the windows will ask you to create some deleted folders once again, so simply click YES, this way the folders you’d have deleted will be created once again temporarily, but they will be deleted automatically, so no need to Panic.
After a few seconds of processing, Trash-Visualiser main window will be opened.
From this GUI version you can view files and folders inside recycle-bin directly within the GUI. You can also view the files/folders inside the deleted folder as well. File/Folders inside the recycle-bin can be Restores and Deleted permanently with a single button click from the GUI.
More detailed information is found in the Repository of Trash-Visualiser.
This was all about minimizing the Hassle of Viewing Files/Folders from the Recycle-Bin without restoring at all, simply and efficiently.
