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Python File I/O Basics

This chapter discusses reading from and writing to files in Python. It covers opening files, reading lines from files, removing whitespace, writing strings and lines to files, appending to files, and handling exceptions. Exception handling allows the program to catch errors from issues like invalid file paths or permissions and avoid system errors. Try/except blocks are used to first try the file operation, and if an error occurs, execute the except block.

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Angel Wong
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60 views17 pages

Python File I/O Basics

This chapter discusses reading from and writing to files in Python. It covers opening files, reading lines from files, removing whitespace, writing strings and lines to files, appending to files, and handling exceptions. Exception handling allows the program to catch errors from issues like invalid file paths or permissions and avoid system errors. Try/except blocks are used to first try the file operation, and if an error occurs, execute the except block.

Uploaded by

Angel Wong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 8.

Python Files

2023-2024
COMP1117A Computer Programming
Dr. T.W. Chim ([email protected]) & Dr. H.F. Ting ([email protected])
Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong
File I/O
Read lines from disk file

Each iteration i will be


referring to a line in the file
“testfile.txt”

Note: it gives the whole line,


including the end-of-line char
(‘\n’). That is, for the 1st
Since the default end symbol is ‘\n’, 2 end-of-line characters iteration,
are printed after each line. i = “This is the first line\n”
3
Read lines from disk file

Recall that this method will


remove all leading and tailing
whitespaces.

4
Write to a file

if just a file name, the file


Can be any valid
will be created in the same
name you like
folder as the program

fout = open(“D:/COMP1117/output.txt”, “w”) If not in the same


folder, you should
give the whole path.
Remember to use /
instead of \.
5
Write to a file

If “output.txt” does not exist, the


system will create an empty file for
you. If it already exists, the system will
first erase all its content.

6
Write a string

You MUST close the file


when you no longer use
it; otherwise, the strings
will not be written.

7
Write a line

8
Append strings to a file
 Recall that the “w” option will erase the file content if it exists.
 If you want to keep the old content of the file, and just want to
append strings after them. You may use the “a” option.

9
Exception
Handling
Catching exceptions
 A lot of things can go wrong when reading/writing a file.
 For example
 The file you want to read does not exist.
 Your program does not have permission to write.
 The path you specify is in fact a folder.

11
Catching exceptions
 Thus, it is better to “try” first.

 The statement “try: .... except:...” will first try to execute the “body” of try, and if
there is any error in the execution, it will execute the “body” of except.
 Then, it will execute the following statement (regardless of whether there is error
during the execution of the body of try.

12
Catching exceptions
 Although the following program uses “try:... except:…” to
detect file opening error, but it will still get into “system error”
trouble if you read a wrong file.

13
Catching exceptions
 The following program avoids the “system error” message.

14
Catching other exceptions
 The following program catches invalid input exception.

15
Catching more exceptions

More Python exceptions can be found at:


https://docs.python.org/3/library/exceptions.html
16
Chapter 8.

END

2023-2024
COMP1117A Computer Programming
Dr. T.W. Chim ([email protected]) & Dr. H.F. Ting ([email protected])
Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong

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