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Python file handling
File Handling
The key function for working with files in Python is the open() function.
The open() function takes two parameters; filename, and mode.
There are four different methods (modes) for opening a file:
"r" - Read - Default value. Opens a file for reading, error if the file does not exist
"a" - Append - Opens a file for appending, creates the file if it does not exist
"w" - Write - Opens a file for writing, creates the file if it does not exist
"x" - Create - Creates the specified file, returns an error if the file exists
In addition you can specify if the file should be handled as binary or text
mode
"t" - Text - Default value. Text mode
"b" - Binary - Binary mode (e.g. images)
Syntax
To open a file for reading it is enough to specify the name of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt")
The code above is the same as:
f = open("demofile.txt", "rt")
Because "r" for read, and "t" for text are the default values, you do not
need to specify them.
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.read())
Python File Write
Write to an Existing File
To write to an existing file, you must add a parameter to the open()
function:
"a" - Append - will append to the end of the file
"w" - Write - will overwrite any existing content
Example
Open the file "demofile2.txt" and append content to the file:
f = open("demofile2.txt", "a")
f.write("Now the file has more content!")
f.close()
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#open and read the file after the appending:
f = open("demofile2.txt", "r")
print(f.read())
Read Lines
You can return one line by using the readline() method:
Example
Read one line of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.readline())
Run Example »
By calling readline() two times, you can read the two first lines:
Example
Read two lines of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.readline())
print(f.readline())
By looping through the lines of the file, you can read the whole file, line by
line:
Example
Loop through the file line by line:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
for x in f:
print(x)
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Close Files
It is a good practice to always close the file when you are done with it.
Example
Close the file when you are finish with it:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.readline())
f.close()
Note: You should always close your files, in some cases, due to buffering, changes
made to a file may not show until you close the file.
Create a New File
To create a new file in Python, use the open() method, with one of the
following parameters:
"x" - Create - will create a file, returns an error if the file exist
"a" - Append - will create a file if the specified file does not exist
"w" - Write - will create a file if the specified file does not exist
Example
Create a file called "myfile.txt":
f = open("myfile.txt", "x")
Result: a new empty file is created!
Example
Create a new file if it does not exist:
f = open("myfile.txt", "w")
Delete a File
To delete a file, you must import the OS module, and run its os.remove()
function:
Example
Remove the file "demofile.txt":
import os
os.remove("demofile.txt")
Check if File exist:
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To avoid getting an error, you might want to check if the file exists before
you try to delete it:
Example
Check if file exists, then delete it:
import os
if os.path.exists("demofile.txt"):
os.remove("demofile.txt")
else:
print("The file does not exist")
Delete Folder
To delete an entire folder, use the os.rmdir() method:
Example
Remove the folder "myfolder":
import os
os.rmdir("myfolder")
Note: You can only remove empty folders.
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