Replacing the existing file in google drive using python

Question

I am trying to replace an existing file with the same id in the google drive.

import json
import requests
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer Token"}
para = {
    "name": "video1.mp4",
}
files = {
    'data': ('metadata', json.dumps(para), 'application/json; charset=UTF-8'),
    'file': open("./video1.mp4", "rb")
}
r = requests.post(
    "https://www.googleapis.com/upload/drive/v3/files?uploadType=multipart",
    headers=headers,
    files=files
)
print(r.text)

It creates files of similar names with different id with this code. Can I replace an existing file with the same id by mentioning it somewhere in this code?

Answer 1

Although I'm not sure whether I could correctly understand Can I replace an existing file with the same id by mentioning it somewhere in this code? , if you want to update an existing file on Google Drive, how about the following modified script?

From your showing script, I understood that you wanted to achieve your goal using requests instead of googleapis for python.

Modified script 1:

If you want to update both the file content and file metadata, how about the following modification?

import json
import requests

fileId = "###" # Please set the file ID you want to update.
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer Token"}
para = {"name": "video1.mp4"}
files = {
    "data": ("metadata", json.dumps(para), "application/json; charset=UTF-8"),
    "file": open("./video1.mp4", "rb"),
}
r = requests.patch("https://www.googleapis.com/upload/drive/v3/files/" + fileId + "?uploadType=multipart",
    headers=headers,
    files=files,
)
print(r.text)

• If you want to update only the file content, please modify para = {"name": "video1.mp4"} to para = {} .

Modified script 2:

If you want to update only the file metadata, how about the following modification?

import json
import requests

fileId = "###" # Please set the file ID you want to update.
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer Token"}
para = {"name": "Updated filename video1.mp4"}
r = requests.patch(
    "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/" + fileId,
    headers=headers,
    data=json.dumps(para),
)
print(r.text)

Note:

• In this answer, it supposes that your access token can be used for upload and update the file. Please be careful about this.

Reference:

• Files: update