Check if files are open (because of error: “text file busy”) in Python

Question

I have a big pcap file, from which I filter out some packets with tshark, save them in new pcap files and put the filenames of the new pcap files in an array called "filename_array". At the end I delete all the files which are saved in the filename_array. But one file from this array is still open when the delete process starts and due to that the error "text file busy" occurs.

So, a solution would be, to check, if all files of the array are closed. If it's true, I can delete all of them. How can I do this?

Answer 1

You can check for exception while reading or deleting the file and handle it.

try:
    with open('filename'):
        #include the file to be deleted in array
except IOError:
    # skip the file

Answer 2

A better way is use 'lsof' to list all opened files in system

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-lsof.html

https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/08/lsof-command-examples

https://alvinalexander.com/blog/post/linux-unix/linux-lsof-command