Python add custom property/metadata to file

Question

In Python, is it possible to add custom property/metadata to a file? For example, I need to add \"FileInfo\" as a new property of the file. I need a method that works on var

Answer 1

Heads up: this answer only works on Linux

You can make use of extended file attributes which is a filesystem feature that do just what you want: store custom metadata along files.

In Python, this is implemented by the os module through setxattr() and getxattr() functions.

import os

os.setxattr('foo.txt', 'user.bar', b'baz')
os.getxattr('foo.txt', 'user.bar')  # => b'baz'

Note that you must prepend the xattr value with "user." otherwise this may raise an OSError.

Answer 2

The easy way to do this is to simply add your new attribute to the file object instance. Eg,

with open('qdata') as f:
    f.fileinfo = {'description': 'this file contains stuff...'}
    print(f.fileinfo)

output

{'description': 'this file contains stuff...'}

Alternatively, create your own file object by deriving from one of the classes defined in the io module.