Python won't overwrite files / directory if already exists

I'm using Python to download image attachments from gmail using the following script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# read emails and detach attachment in attachments directory
import email
import getpass, imaplib
import os
import sys
import time
detach_dir = '.'
if 'attachments' not in os.listdir(detach_dir):
os.mkdir('/var/www/html/attachments')
userName = 'enter-your-gmail-account-name-here'
passwd = 'enter-your-password-here'
try:
imapSession = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.gmail.com',993)
typ, accountDetails = imapSession.login(userName, passwd)
if typ != 'OK':
print ('Not able to sign in!')
raise Exception
imapSession.select('Inbox')
typ, data = imapSession.search(None, 'SUBJECT', '"DASHBOARD"')
if typ != 'OK':
print ('Error searching Inbox.')
raise Exception
# Iterating over all emails
for msgId in data[0].split():
typ, messageParts = imapSession.fetch(msgId, '(RFC822)')
if typ != 'OK':
print ('Error fetching mail.')
raise Exception
emailBody = messageParts[0][1] 
mail = email.message_from_bytes(emailBody) 
for part in mail.walk():
if part.get_content_maintype() == 'multipart':
continue
if part.get('Content-Disposition') is None:
continue
fileName = part.get_filename()
if bool(fileName): 
filePath = os.path.join(detach_dir, '/var/www/html/attachments', fileName)
if not os.path.isfile(filePath) : 
print (fileName)
print (filePath)
fp = open(filePath, 'wb')
fp.write(part.get_payload(decode=True))
fp.close()
#MOVING EMAILS TO PROCESSED PART BEGINS HERE
imapSession.select(mailbox='inbox', readonly=False)
resp, items = imapSession.search(None, 'All')
email_ids = items[0].split()
for email in email_ids:
latest_email_id = email
#move to processed
result = imapSession.store(latest_email_id, '+X-GM-LABELS', 'Processed')
if result[0] == 'OK':
#delete from inbox
imapSession.store(latest_email_id, '+FLAGS', '\\Deleted')
#END OF MOVING EMAILS TO PROCESSED
imapSession.close()
imapSession.logout()
except :
print ('No attachments were downloaded')

I'm getting the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/jenns/get_images_from_emails.py", line 12, in <module>
os.mkdir('/var/www/html/attachments')
FileExistsError: [Errno 17] File exists: '/var/www/html/attachments'

I've noticed that python3 is not in #!/usr/bin/env python3 and changed it to #!/usr/bin python3 which didn't produce different results.

I know the gmail side is working because the attachment is moving to the Processed Folder and the email is deleted from my inbox.

I've also used sudo chmod 775 '/var/www/html/attachments' and that didn't resolve the problem. Any ideas as to why the files aren't downloading using the script, get_images_from_emails.py ?

The error message tells you, that the folder you're trying to create already exists, not a file. A file would be overwritten.

This likely happens due to not providing the full path for your "detach_dir" when checking for its existence, but then providing a full path for creating it.

Something like this should work:

attach_dir =  '/var/www/html/attachments'
if not os.path.exists(attach_dir):
os.makedirs(attach_dir)

Edit:

And I'm not sure about your directory structure, but this looks like it could be an error ...

filePath = os.path.join(detach_dir, '/var/www/html/attachments', fileName)

... as the above suggests that your "detach_dir" would be /var/www/html, thus the filepath would be: /var/www/html/var/www/html/attachments/filename (a directory that likely doesn't exist)

Thanks to @sm this was the resulting script that works!

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# read emails and detach attachment in attachments directory
import email
import getpass, imaplib
import os
import sys
import time
detach_dir =  '/var/www/html/attachments'
if not os.path.exists(detach_dir):
os.makedirs(detach_dir)
userName = 'enter-your-gmail-account-name-here'
passwd = 'enter-your-password-here'
try:
imapSession = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.gmail.com',993)
typ, accountDetails = imapSession.login(userName, passwd)
if typ != 'OK':
print ('Not able to sign in!')
raise Exception
imapSession.select('Inbox')
typ, data = imapSession.search(None, 'SUBJECT', '"DASHBOARD"')
if typ != 'OK':
print ('Error searching Inbox.')
raise Exception
# Iterating over all emails
for msgId in data[0].split():
typ, messageParts = imapSession.fetch(msgId, '(RFC822)')
if typ != 'OK':
print ('Error fetching mail.')
raise Exception
emailBody = messageParts[0][1] 
mail = email.message_from_bytes(emailBody) 
for part in mail.walk():
if part.get_content_maintype() == 'multipart':
continue
if part.get('Content-Disposition') is None:
continue
fileName = part.get_filename()
if bool(fileName): 
filePath = os.path.join(detach_dir, fileName)
if not os.path.isfile(filePath) : 
print (fileName)
print (filePath)
fp = open(filePath, 'wb')
fp.write(part.get_payload(decode=True))
fp.close()
#MOVING EMAILS TO PROCESSED PART BEGINS HERE
imapSession.select(mailbox='inbox', readonly=False)
resp, items = imapSession.search(None, 'All')
email_ids = items[0].split()
for email in email_ids:
latest_email_id = email
#move to processed
result = imapSession.store(latest_email_id, '+X-GM-LABELS', 'Processed')
if result[0] == 'OK':
#delete from inbox
imapSession.store(latest_email_id, '+FLAGS', '\\Deleted')
#END OF MOVING EMAILS TO PROCESSED
imapSession.close()
imapSession.logout()
except :
print ('No attachments were downloaded')