What is the difference between shutil.copy() and shutil.copytree()?

Python’s shutil module provides both copy() and copytree() for copying, but they serve different purposes.

1. shutil.copy()

• Purpose: Copies a single file.
• Syntax: shutil.copy(source_file, destination_file)
• Use case: When you want to copy just one file to a new location.

Example:

import shutil
shutil.copy('data.txt', 'backup/data.txt')

This copies data.txt to the backup folder.

2. shutil.copytree()

• Purpose: Copies a whole folder (directory) along with all its files and subfolders.
• Syntax: shutil.copytree(source_folder, destination_folder)
• Use case: When you want to create a full backup or duplicate of a directory.

Example:

shutil.copytree('project', 'project_backup')

This copies the entire project folder to project_backup.

Key Differences

In summary, use copy() for files and copytree() for directories.