python can't remove a file after closing it, “being used by another process”

Question

I am trying to remove a file after reading from it, but getting \"WindowsError: [Error 32] The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process\"

Answer 1

There are lots of possible reasons for this. However, the most likely one is that you have a directory window open that contains the file, or that such a window was closed recently and Windows has yet to flush the directory from its cache. Try closing any directory window that you were looking in and try again.