Question

I get the following error….

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "deploycommerce.py", line 56, in <module>
    if tarfile.is_tarfile(optfile):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/tarfile.py", line 2587, in is_tarfile
    t = open(name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/tarfile.py", line 1658, in open
    return func(name, "r", fileobj, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/tarfile.py", line 1720, in gzopen
    fileobj = bltn_open(name, mode + "b")
TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, TarFile found

when I try to fun the following…

optfile = tarfile.open(opt_tar_input,"r:gz")
# ERROR THROWN IN FOLLOWING...
if tarfile.is_tarfile(optfile):
    # extract all contents
    test =""

thanks guys

Answer 1

tarfile.is_tarfile takes the name of a file, not the file object.

If you’ve successfully called tarfile.open then the path pointed to a tarfile.

Note that the usual Python coding style would be

try:
    optfile = tarfile.open(...)
except tarfile.ReadError:
    # not a tarfile

This is usually summarised in the slogan “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission“.