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Python File Handling - 29jun2022

The open() function is used to open files in Python. It takes a filename and mode as parameters. There are four modes for opening files - read ("r"), append ("a"), write ("w"), and create ("x"). Files can be read, written to, appended to, and closed in Python. The file handling functions allow managing files, including creating, deleting, and checking if files exist.

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12 views

Python File Handling - 29jun2022

The open() function is used to open files in Python. It takes a filename and mode as parameters. There are four modes for opening files - read ("r"), append ("a"), write ("w"), and create ("x"). Files can be read, written to, appended to, and closed in Python. The file handling functions allow managing files, including creating, deleting, and checking if files exist.

Uploaded by

aditya.cse121118
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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File handling in Python src7bppimt@gmail.

com 26:Aug-2022 Page 1 of 4

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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