Access properties of a Python file

Question

I want to access the properties of a file using Python. I saw that it is possible to do this using the function listxattr of the OS module, but when trying to use it, it gives me an error. See my code below:

import os
print(os.listxattr('teste.txt'))

Attributeerror: module 'os' has no attribute 'listxattr'

I want to do a file upload system. My idea is to mark the uploaded files with some information, avoiding uploading again and the client needs the files on the local machine.

I am in Windows environment. What I may be doing wrong?

What I want to do:

Answer 1

The method .stat object pathlib.Path brings the information in the form of a Namedtuple (basically, brings the attributes):

In [1]: from pathlib import Path                                                                                                     

In [2]: Path("teste.txt").stat()                                                                                                     
Out[2]: os.stat_result(st_mode=33188, st_ino=5512541, st_dev=64770, st_nlink=1, st_uid=1301285014, st_gid=1301283329, st_size=0, st_atime=1580502110, st_mtime=1580502110, st_ctime=1580502110)

In [6]: info = Path("teste.txt").stat()                                                                                              

In [7]: from datetime import datetime                                                                                                

In [8]: datetime.fromtimestamp(info.st_atime)                                                                                        
Out[8]: datetime.datetime(2020, 1, 31, 17, 21, 50, 59767)

In versions prior to Python 3.5, m odulo pathlib did not exist, and it is possible to get the same answer by calling the function stat in the module os passing the file as a string:

In [10]: os.stat("teste.txt")                                                                                                        
Out[10]: os.stat_result(st_mode=33188, st_ino=5512541, st_dev=64770, st_nlink=1, st_uid=1301285014, st_gid=1301283329, st_size=0, st_atime=1580502110, st_mtime=1580502110, st_ctime=1580502110)

The advantage of using the pathlib.Path is that Python already knows that it is not just a string: it is a path to a file, and the object itself has several methods, such as open, read_text, rename, greatly simplifying any work that will be done with files.

But the stat only read the file information, available on the file system, it does not serve to mark any of these properties. You can either make your tags on the file name itself, or keep a file in parallel, in the same directory, where you serialize a Python dictionary with all the information you want about the other files in the directory.

updating The question was edited after I answered and AP’s intentions became clearer - I commented on the question explaining a few things better after this issue - I’m updating the answer to include the content of the comments:

There is no way, independent of the arbitrary system, of attaching arbitrary metadata to a file. The existence of this meta-information depends not only on the operating system, but on the file system. - It is even possible to "hide" too much information in the filesystem that you can find with your own program - but the Windows GUI will not show this information.

Example of how to "encode the information there: you could agree that if the change timestamp of a file ends in a second pair, it has been sent, if it ends in a second odd, it has not been sent. It is possible to change this timestamp - but extracting this information and showing in the native windows window does not give - one would have to use a program of his to see the extra information about the file. And then, it’s easier to just keep the information in a parallel archive - no hacking required. -

As asked in the question - on Linux, at least on the most common filesystems, this is possible yes, and the features are available in Python in the functions os.setxattr, os.listxattr, os.getxattr and os.removexattr documented here: https://docs.python.org/3/library/os.html#linux-Extended-Attributes