File system operations and automation
The os and shutil modules provide functions for interacting with the operating system and performing file operations. The os module offers portable way of using operating system dependent functionality like reading environment variables, working with file paths, creating directories, and executing system commands. The shutil module provides higher-level file operations like copying, moving, and archiving files and directories. These modules are essential for writing scripts that need to interact with the file system, such as automated backup scripts, file processing pipelines, directory cleanup utilities, and system administration tasks. Understanding these modules allows you to write cross-platform scripts that work on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Proper error handling is important when working with file system operations, as files might not exist, permissions might be insufficient, or disks might be full.