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Files Cheatsheet

The document discusses Python file handling methods. It explains that the open() function creates a file object that can be used to read, write, and modify files. It describes the read(), readlines(), and readline() methods for reading file content as strings or lists of strings. It also covers the write() and append() methods for writing to files, and mentions that the csv module can be used to write dictionaries to CSV files.

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Pranay Bagde
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60 views

Files Cheatsheet

The document discusses Python file handling methods. It explains that the open() function creates a file object that can be used to read, write, and modify files. It describes the read(), readlines(), and readline() methods for reading file content as strings or lists of strings. It also covers the write() and append() methods for writing to files, and mentions that the csv module can be used to write dictionaries to CSV files.

Uploaded by

Pranay Bagde
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Cheatsheets / Learn Python 3

Files
Python File Object
A Python le object is created when a le is opened with
the open() function. You can associate this le object
with a variable when you open a le using the with and
as keywords. For example:

with open('somefile.txt') as
file_object:

You can then print the content of the le object,


file_object with print() .

print(file_object)

You might see something like this on the output terminal:

<_io.TextIOWrapper name='somefile.txt'
mode='r' encoding='UTF-8'>

Python Read Method


After a le is opened with open() returning a le
object, call the .read() method of the le object to
return the entire le content as a Python string. Executing
the following Python code:

with open('mystery.txt') as text_file:


text_data = text_file.read()
print(text_data)

will produce a string containing the entire content of the


read le:

Mystery solved.
Congratulations!

/
Python Readlines Method
Instead of reading the entire content of a le, you can
read a single line at a time. Instead of .read() which
returns a string, call .readlines() to return a list of
strings, each representing an individual line in the le.
Calling this code:

with open('lines.txt') as file_object:


file_data = file_object.readlines()
print(file_data)

returns a list of strings in file_data :

['1. Learn Python.\n', '2. Work


hard.\n', '3. Graduate.']

Iterating over the list, file_data , and printing it:

for line in file_data:


print(line)

outputs:

1. Learn Python.

2. Work hard.

3. Graduate.

Python Readline Method


To read only one line instead of multiple lines in a Python
le, use the method .readline() on a le object that
is returned from the open() function. Every
subsequent .readline() will extract the next line in
the le if it exists.

with open('story.txt') as
story_object:
print(story_object.readline())

will print only the rst line in story.txt .

/
Python Write To File
By default, a le when opened with open() is only for
reading. A second argument 'r' is passed to it by
default. To write to a le, rst open the le with write
permission via the 'w' argument. Then use the
.write() method to write to the le. If the le already
exists, all prior content will be overwritten.

with open('diary.txt','w') as diary:


diary.write('Special events for
today')

Python Append To File


Writing to an opened le with the 'w' ag overwrites all
previous content in the le. To avoid this, we can append
to a le instead. Use the 'a' ag as the second
argument to open() . If a le doesn’t exist, it will be
created for append mode.

with open('shopping.txt', 'a') as


shop:
shop.write('Tomatoes, cucumbers,
celery\n')

/
Class csv.DictWriter
In Python, the csv module implements classes to read
and write tabular data in CSV format. It has a class # An example of csv.DictWriter
DictWriter which operates like a regular writer but import csv
maps a dictionary onto output rows. The keys of the
dictionary are column names while values are actual data. with open('companies.csv', 'w') as csvfile:
The csv.DictWriter constructor takes two fieldnames = ['name', 'type']
arguments. The rst is the open le handler that the CSV writer = csv.DictWriter(csvfile,
is being written to. The second named parameter, fieldnames=fieldnames)
fieldnames , is a list of eld names that the CSV is writer.writeheader()
going to handle. writer.writerow({'name': 'Codecademy',
'type': 'Learning'})
writer.writerow({'name': 'Google', 'type':
'Search'})

"""
After running the above code, companies.csv
will contain the following information:

name,type
Codecademy,Learning
Google,Search
"""

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