OperatingSystem

Appends given values to environment variable name.

Arguments

If the environment variable already exists, values are added after it, and otherwise a new environment variable is created.

Values are, by default, joined together using the operating system path separator (; on Windows, : elsewhere). This can be changed by giving a separator after the values like separator=value. No other configuration parameters are accepted.

Examples (assuming NAME and NAME2 do not exist initially):

Appends the given content to the specified file.

Arguments

If the file exists, the given text is written to its end. If the file does not exist, it is created.

Other than not overwriting possible existing files, this keyword works exactly like Create File. See its documentation for more details about the usage.

Copies the source directory into the destination.

Arguments

If the destination exists, the source is copied under it. Otherwise the destination directory and the possible missing intermediate directories are created.

Copies the source file into the destination.

Arguments

Source must be a path to an existing file or a glob pattern (see Glob patterns) that matches exactly one file. How the destination is interpreted is explained below.

1) If the destination is an existing file, the source file is copied over it.

2) If the destination is an existing directory, the source file is copied into it. A possible file with the same name as the source is overwritten.

3) If the destination does not exist and it ends with a path separator (/ or \), it is considered a directory. That directory is created and a source file copied into it. Possible missing intermediate directories are also created.

4) If the destination does not exist and it does not end with a path separator, it is considered a file. If the path to the file does not exist, it is created.

The resulting destination path is returned.

See also Copy Files, Move File, and Move Files.

Copies specified files to the target directory.

Arguments

Source files can be given as exact paths and as glob patterns (see Glob patterns). At least one source must be given, but it is not an error if it is a pattern that does not match anything.

Last argument must be the destination directory. If the destination does not exist, it will be created.

Examples:

See also Copy File, Move File, and Move Files.

Wrapper for Count Items In Directory returning only directory count.

Arguments

Wrapper for Count Items In Directory returning only file count.

Arguments

Returns and logs the number of all items in the given directory.

Arguments

The argument pattern has the same semantics as with List Directory keyword. The count is returned as an integer, so it must be checked e.g. with the built-in keyword Should Be Equal As Integers.

Creates a binary file with the given content.

Arguments

If content is given as a Unicode string, it is first converted to bytes character by character. All characters with ordinal below 256 can be used and are converted to bytes with same values. Using characters with higher ordinal is an error.

Byte strings, and possible other types, are written to the file as is.

If the directory for the file does not exist, it is created, along with missing intermediate directories.

Examples:

Use Create File if you want to create a text file using a certain encoding. File Should Not Exist can be used to avoid overwriting existing files.

Creates the specified directory.

Arguments

Also possible intermediate directories are created. Passes if the directory already exists, but fails if the path exists and is not a directory.

Creates a file with the given content and encoding.

Arguments

If the directory where the file is created does not exist, it is automatically created along with possible missing intermediate directories. Possible existing file is overwritten.

On Windows newline characters (\n) in content are automatically converted to Windows native newline sequence (\r\n).

See Get File for more information about possible encoding values, including special values SYSTEM and CONSOLE.

Examples:

Use Append To File if you want to append to an existing file and Create Binary File if you need to write bytes without encoding. File Should Not Exist can be used to avoid overwriting existing files.

Fails unless the specified directory is empty.

Arguments

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails unless the given path points to an existing directory.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax.

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails if the specified directory is empty.

Arguments

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails if the given path points to an existing file.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax.

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Deletes all the content from the given directory.

Arguments

Deletes both files and sub-directories, but the specified directory itself if not removed. Use Remove Directory if you want to remove the whole directory.

Fails if the specified environment variable is not set.

Arguments

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails if the specified environment variable is set.

Arguments

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails unless the specified file is empty.

Arguments

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails unless the given path points to an existing file.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax.

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails if the specified file is empty.

Arguments

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails if the given path points to an existing file.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax.

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Returns the contents of a specified file.

Arguments

This keyword reads the specified file and returns the contents as is. See also Get File.

Returns the value of an environment variable with the given name.

Arguments

If no environment variable is found, returns possible default value. If no default value is given, the keyword fails.

Returned variables are automatically decoded to Unicode using the system encoding.

Note that you can also access environment variables directly using the variable syntax %{ENV_VAR_NAME}.

Returns currently available environment variables as a dictionary.

Both keys and values are decoded to Unicode using the system encoding. Altering the returned dictionary has no effect on the actual environment variables.

Returns the contents of a specified file.

Arguments

This keyword reads the specified file and returns the contents. Line breaks in content are converted to platform independent form. See also Get Binary File.

encoding defines the encoding of the file. The default value is UTF-8, which means that UTF-8 and ASCII encoded files are read correctly. In addition to the encodings supported by the underlying Python implementation, the following special encoding values can be used:

• SYSTEM: Use the default system encoding.
• CONSOLE: Use the console encoding. Outside Windows this is same as the system encoding.

encoding_errors argument controls what to do if decoding some bytes fails. All values accepted by decode method in Python are valid, but in practice the following values are most useful:

• strict: Fail if characters cannot be decoded (default).
• ignore: Ignore characters that cannot be decoded.
• replace: Replace characters that cannot be decoded with a replacement character.

Returns and logs file size as an integer in bytes.

Arguments

Returns the last modification time of a file or directory.

Arguments

How time is returned is determined based on the given format string as follows. Note that all checks are case-insensitive. Returned time is also automatically logged.

1) If format contains the word epoch, the time is returned in seconds after the UNIX epoch. The return value is always an integer.

2) If format contains any of the words year, month, day, hour, min or sec, only the selected parts are returned. The order of the returned parts is always the one in the previous sentence and the order of the words in format is not significant. The parts are returned as zero-padded strings (e.g. May -> 05).

3) Otherwise, and by default, the time is returned as a timestamp string in the format 2006-02-24 15:08:31.

Examples (when the modified time of ${CURDIR} is 2006-03-29 15:06:21):

=>

• ${time} = '2006-03-29 15:06:21'
• ${secs} = 1143637581
• ${year} = '2006'
• ${y} = '2006' & ${d} = '29'
• @{time} = ['2006', '03', '29', '15', '06', '21']

Returns the lines of the specified file that match the pattern.

Arguments

This keyword reads a file from the file system using the defined path, encoding and encoding_errors similarly as Get File. A difference is that only the lines that match the given pattern are returned. Lines are returned as a single string concatenated back together with newlines and the number of matched lines is automatically logged. Possible trailing newline is never returned.

A line matches if it contains the pattern anywhere in it i.e. it does not need to match the pattern fully. There are two supported pattern types:

• By default the pattern is considered a glob pattern where, for example, * and ? can be used as wildcards.
• If the regexp argument is given a true value, the pattern is considered to be a regular expression. These patterns are more powerful but also more complicated than glob patterns. They often use the backslash character and it needs to be escaped in Robot Framework date like \\.

For more information about glob and regular expression syntax, see the Pattern matching section. With this keyword matching is always case-sensitive.

Examples:

Special encoding values SYSTEM and CONSOLE that Get File supports are supported by this keyword only with Robot Framework 4.0 and newer.

Support for regular expressions is new in Robot Framework 5.0.

Joins the given path part(s) to the given base path.

Arguments

The path separator (/ or \) is inserted when needed and the possible absolute paths handled as expected. The resulted path is also normalized.

Examples:

=>

• ${path} = 'my/path'
• ${p2} = 'my/path'
• ${p3} = 'my/path/my/file.txt'
• ${p4} = '/path'
• ${p5} = '/my/path2'

Joins given paths with base and returns resulted paths.

Arguments

See Join Path for more information.

Examples:

=>

• @{p1} = ['base/example', 'base/other']
• @{p2} = ['/example', '/my/base/other']
• @{p3} = ['my/base/example/path', 'my/base/other', 'my/base/one/more']

Wrapper for List Directory that returns only directories.

Arguments

Returns and logs items in a directory, optionally filtered with pattern.

Arguments

File and directory names are returned in case-sensitive alphabetical order, e.g. ['A Name', 'Second', 'a lower case name', 'one more']. Implicit directories . and .. are not returned. The returned items are automatically logged.

File and directory names are returned relative to the given path (e.g. 'file.txt') by default. If you want them be returned in absolute format (e.g. '/home/robot/file.txt'), give the absolute argument a true value (see Boolean arguments).

If pattern is given, only items matching it are returned. The pattern is considered to be a glob pattern and the full syntax is explained in the Glob patterns section. With this keyword matching is always case-sensitive.

Examples (using also other List Directory variants):

Wrapper for List Directory that returns only files.

Arguments

Logs all environment variables using the given log level.

Arguments

Environment variables are also returned the same way as with Get Environment Variables keyword.

Wrapper for Get File that also logs the returned file.

Arguments

The file is logged with the INFO level. If you want something else, just use Get File and the built-in keyword Log with the desired level.

See Get File for more information about encoding and encoding_errors arguments.

Moves the source directory into a destination.

Arguments

Uses Copy Directory keyword internally, and source and destination arguments have exactly same semantics as with that keyword.

Moves the source file into the destination.

Arguments

Arguments have exactly same semantics as with Copy File keyword. Destination file path is returned.

If the source and destination are on the same filesystem, rename operation is used. Otherwise file is copied to the destination filesystem and then removed from the original filesystem.

See also Move Files, Copy File, and Copy Files.

Moves specified files to the target directory.

Arguments

Arguments have exactly same semantics as with Copy Files keyword.

See also Move File, Copy File, and Copy Files.

Normalizes the given path.

Arguments

• Collapses redundant separators and up-level references.
• Converts / to \ on Windows.
• Replaces initial ~ or ~user by that user's home directory.
• If case_normalize is given a true value (see Boolean arguments) on Windows, converts the path to all lowercase.

Examples:

=>

• ${path1} = 'abc'
• ${path2} = 'def'
• ${path3} = 'abc/def/ghi'
• ${path4} = '/home/robot/stuff'

On Windows result would use \ instead of / and home directory would be different.

Removes the directory pointed to by the given path.

Arguments

If the second argument recursive is given a true value (see Boolean arguments), the directory is removed recursively. Otherwise removing fails if the directory is not empty.

If the directory pointed to by the path does not exist, the keyword passes, but it fails, if the path points to a file.

Deletes the specified environment variable.

Arguments

Does nothing if the environment variable is not set.

It is possible to remove multiple variables by passing them to this keyword as separate arguments.

Removes a file with the given path.

Arguments

Passes if the file does not exist, but fails if the path does not point to a regular file (e.g. it points to a directory).

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax. If the path is a pattern, all files matching it are removed.

Uses Remove File to remove multiple files one-by-one.

Arguments

Examples

Runs the given command in the system and returns the output.

Arguments

The execution status of the command is not checked by this keyword, and it must be done separately based on the returned output. If the execution return code is needed, either Run And Return RC or Run And Return RC And Output can be used.

The standard error stream is automatically redirected to the standard output stream by adding 2>&1 after the executed command. This automatic redirection is done only when the executed command does not contain additional output redirections. You can thus freely forward the standard error somewhere else, for example, like my_command 2>stderr.txt.

The returned output contains everything written into the standard output or error streams by the command (unless either of them is redirected explicitly). Many commands add an extra newline (\n) after the output to make it easier to read in the console. To ease processing the returned output, this possible trailing newline is stripped by this keyword.

Examples:

TIP: Run Process keyword provided by the Process library supports better process configuration and is generally recommended as a replacement for this keyword.

Runs the given command in the system and returns the return code.

Arguments

The return code (RC) is returned as a positive integer in range from 0 to 255 as returned by the executed command. On some operating systems (notable Windows) original return codes can be something else, but this keyword always maps them to the 0-255 range. Since the RC is an integer, it must be checked e.g. with the keyword Should Be Equal As Integers instead of Should Be Equal (both are built-in keywords).

Examples:

See Run and Run And Return RC And Output if you need to get the output of the executed command.

TIP: Run Process keyword provided by the Process library supports better process configuration and is generally recommended as a replacement for this keyword.

Runs the given command in the system and returns the RC and output.

Arguments

The return code (RC) is returned similarly as with Run And Return RC and the output similarly as with Run.

Examples:

TIP: Run Process keyword provided by the Process library supports better process configuration and is generally recommended as a replacement for this keyword.

Sets an environment variable to a specified value.

Arguments

Values are converted to strings automatically. Set variables are automatically encoded using the system encoding.

Sets the file modification and access times.

Arguments

Changes the modification and access times of the given file to the value determined by mtime. The time can be given in different formats described below. Note that all checks involving strings are case-insensitive. Modified time can only be set to regular files.

1) If mtime is a number, or a string that can be converted to a number, it is interpreted as seconds since the UNIX epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC). This documentation was originally written about 1177654467 seconds after the epoch.

2) If mtime is a timestamp, that time will be used. Valid timestamp formats are YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss and YYYYMMDD hhmmss.

3) If mtime is equal to NOW, the current local time is used.

4) If mtime is equal to UTC, the current time in UTC is used.

5) If mtime is in the format like NOW - 1 day or UTC + 1 hour 30 min, the current local/UTC time plus/minus the time specified with the time string is used. The time string format is described in an appendix of Robot Framework User Guide.

Examples:

Fails unless the given path (file or directory) exists.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax.

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Fails if the given path (file or directory) exists.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax.

The default error message can be overridden with the msg argument.

Splits the extension from the given path.

Arguments

The given path is first normalized (e.g. possible trailing path separators removed, special directories .. and . removed). The base path and extension are returned as separate components so that the dot used as an extension separator is removed. If the path contains no extension, an empty string is returned for it. Possible leading and trailing dots in the file name are never considered to be extension separators.

Examples:

=>

• ${path} = 'file' & ${ext} = 'extension'
• ${p2} = 'path/file' & ${e2} = 'ext'
• ${p3} = 'path/file' & ${e3} = ''
• ${p4} = 'p2/file' & ${e4} = 'ext'
• ${p5} = 'path/.file' & ${e5} = 'ext'
• ${p6} = 'path/.file' & ${e6} = ''

Splits the given path from the last path separator (/ or \).

Arguments

The given path is first normalized (e.g. a possible trailing path separator is removed, special directories .. and . removed). The parts that are split are returned as separate components.

Examples:

=>

• ${path1} = 'abc' & ${dir} = 'def'
• ${path2} = 'abc/def' & ${file} = 'ghi.txt'
• ${path3} = 'def' & ${d2} = 'ghi'

Emulates the UNIX touch command.

Arguments

Creates a file, if it does not exist. Otherwise changes its access and modification times to the current time.

Fails if used with the directories or the parent directory of the given file does not exist.

Waits until the given file or directory is created.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax. If the path is a pattern, the keyword returns when an item matching it is created.

The optional timeout can be used to control the maximum time of waiting. The timeout is given as a timeout string, e.g. in a format 15 seconds, 1min 10s or just 10. The time string format is described in an appendix of Robot Framework User Guide.

If the timeout is negative, the keyword is never timed-out. The keyword returns immediately, if the path already exists.

Waits until the given file or directory is removed.

Arguments

The path can be given as an exact path or as a glob pattern. See the Glob patterns section for details about the supported syntax. If the path is a pattern, the keyword waits until all matching items are removed.

The optional timeout can be used to control the maximum time of waiting. The timeout is given as a timeout string, e.g. in a format 15 seconds, 1min 10s or just 10. The time string format is described in an appendix of Robot Framework User Guide.

If the timeout is negative, the keyword is never timed-out. The keyword returns immediately, if the path does not exist in the first place.