Statement
Solution
Python Exercise 7.3: File Copy Utility
File I/O is a fundamental skill in Python. Write a program that reads content from a source file, converts all text to uppercase, and writes the result to a destination file — simulating a basic file copy utility with transformation.
Your program should:
- Ask the user to enter a source filename and a destination filename.
- Use a
try/exceptblock to open and read the source file. - Convert the entire file content to uppercase using
.upper(). - Write the transformed content to the destination file.
- Print a success message confirming the copy operation.
- Catch a
FileNotFoundErrorif the source file does not exist and print an appropriate error message. - Catch any other unexpected errors using a generic
Exceptionhandler.
Note: Since this environment simulates file I/O, use the custom input box to provide the filenames. The grader will use pre-created test files (source.txt, missing.txt) to validate your logic.
Sample Interaction 1 (Success):
Input
Output
source.txt
destination.txt
Enter source filename: source.txt
Enter destination filename: destination.txt
Success: Content copied to 'destination.txt' in uppercase.
Sample Interaction 2 (FileNotFoundError):
Input
Output
missing.txt
destination.txt
Enter source filename: missing.txt
Enter destination filename: destination.txt
Error: Source file 'missing.txt' not found.
Solution
We use a try/except block to safely handle file operations. The with statement ensures files are properly closed even if an error occurs during reading or writing.
try:
source = input("Enter source filename: ")
destination = input("Enter destination filename: ")
with open(source, 'r') as src_file:
content = src_file.read()
uppercase_content = content.upper()
with open(destination, 'w') as dest_file:
dest_file.write(uppercase_content)
print(f"Success: Content copied to '{destination}' in uppercase.")
except FileNotFoundError:
print(f"Error: Source file '{source}' not found.")
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error: An unexpected error occurred: {e}")
Key Concepts:
- The
with open()statement (context manager) automatically closes the file after the block executes. 'r'mode opens a file for reading;'w'mode opens a file for writing (creates if it doesn't exist)..read()reads the entire file content as a single string..upper()converts all characters in a string to uppercase.FileNotFoundErroris raised when Python cannot locate the specified file path.- A generic
except Exception as eblock catches any other unexpected errors and lets you inspect the error message.
Test Console
Run code to see output...
