FILE HANDLING

✓ INTRODUCTION
✓ DATA FILES
✓ OPENINGAND CLOSING FILES
✓ READINGANDWRITING FILES
✓ STANDARD INPUT, OUTPUTAND ERROR STREAMS
▪ FILE HANDLING is a mechanism by which we
can read data of disk files in python program or
write back data from python program to disk
files.
▪ So far in our python program the standard input
in coming from keyboard an output is going to
monitor i.e. no where data is stored permanent
and entered data is present as long as program is
running BUT file handling allows us to store data
entered through python program permanently in
disk file and later on we can read back the data
▪ It contains data pertaining to a specific
application, for later use. The data files can be
stored in two ways –
▪ Text File
▪ Binary File
▪ Text file stores information in ASCII OR
UNICODE character. In text file everything will
be stored as a character for example if data is
“computer” then it will take 8 bytes and if the
data is floating value like 11237.9876 it will take
10 bytes.
▪ In text file each like is terminated by special
character called EOL. In text file some
translation takes place when this EOL character
is read or written. In python EOL is ‘\n’ or ‘\r’ or
combination of both
▪ It stores the information in the same format
as in the memory i.e. data is stored according
to its data type so no translation occurs.
▪ In binary file there is no delimiter for a new
line
▪ Binary files are faster and easier for a
program to read and write than text files.
▪ Data in binary files cannot be directly read, it
can be read only through python program for
the same.
1. OPENING FILE
 We should first open the file for read or write by
specifying the name of file and mode.
2. PERFORMING READ/WRITE
 Once the file is opened now we can either read or
write for which file is opened using various functions
available
3. CLOSING FILE
 After performing operation we must close the file
and release the file for other application to use it,
▪ File can be opened for either – read, write,
append.
SYNTAX:
file_object = open(filename)
Or
file_object = open(filename,mode)

** default mode is “read”

myfile = open(“story.txt”)
here disk file “story.txt” is loaded in
memory and its reference is linked to “myfile”
object, now python program will access
“story.txt” through “myfile” object.
here “story.txt” is present in the same
folder where .py file is stored otherwise if disk
file to work is in another folder we have to give
full path.
myfile = open(“article.txt”,”r”)
here “r” is for read (although it is by default, other
options are “w” for write, “a” for append)

myfile = open(“d:\\mydata\\poem.txt”,”r”)
here we are accessing “poem.txt” file stored in
separate location i.e. d:\mydata folder.
at the time of giving path of file we must use double
backslash(\\) in place of single backslash because in python
single slash is used for escape character and it may cause
problem like if the folder name is “nitin” and we provide path
as d:\nitin\poem.txt then in \nitin “\n” will become escape
character for new line, SO ALWAYS USE DOUBLE
BACKSLASH IN PATH
myfile = open(“d:\\mydata\\poem.txt”,”r”)
another solution of double backslash is
using “r” before the path making the string as
raw string i.e. no special meaning attached to
any character as:
myfile = open(r“d:\mydata\poem.txt”,”r”)
myfile = open(r“d:\mydata\poem.txt”,”r”)

In the above example “myfile” is the file object

or file handle or file pointer holding the
reference of disk file. In python we will access
and manipulate the disk file through this file
handle only.
Text Binary File Description Notes
File Mode
Mode
‘r’ ‘rb’ Read only File must exists, otherwise Python raises
I/O errors
‘w’ ‘wb’ Write only If file not exists, file is created
If file exists, python will truncate
existing data and overwrite the file.
‘a’ ‘ab’ Append File is in write mode only, new data will
be added to the end of existing data i.e.
no overwriting. If file not exists it is
created
‘r+’ ‘r+b’ or ‘rb+’ Read and write File must exists otherwise error is raised
Both reading and writing can take place
w+ ‘w+b’ or ‘wb+’ Write and read File is created if not exists, if exists data
will be truncated, both read and write
allowed
‘a+’ ‘a+b’ or ‘ab+’ Write and read Same as above but previous content will
be retained and both read and write.
▪ As reference of disk file is stored in file handle
so to close we must call the close() function
through the file handle and release the file.

myfile.close()

Note: open function is built-in function used

standalone while close() must be called through file
handle
▪ To read from file python provide many functions
like :
▪ Filehandle.read([n]) : reads and return n bytes,
if n is not specified it reads entire file.
▪ Filehandle.readline([n]) : reads a line of input.
If n is specified reads at most n bytes. Read bytes
in the form of string ending with line character or
blank string if no more bytes are left for reading.
▪ Filehandle.readlines(): reads all lines and
returns them in a list
SAMPLE FILE
SAMPLE FILE
SAMPLE FILE
SAMPLE FILE

HAVEYOU NOTICEDTHE DIFFERENCE IN OUTPUT FROM PREVIOUS OUPUT?

SAMPLE FILE
SAMPLE FILE
SAMPLE FILE
SAMPLE FILE
SAMPLE FILE
▪ After read operation, let us take an example
of how to write data in disk files. Python
provides functions:
 write ()
 writelines()
▪ The above functions are called by the file
handle to write desired content.
Name Syntax Description
write() Filehandle.write(str1) Writes string str1 to file referenced
by filehandle
Writelines() Filehandle.writelines(L) Writes all string in List L as lines to
file referenced by filehandle.
write() using “w” mode
 write() using “w” mode

Lets run the

same program
again
 write() using “w” mode

Now we can observe that while writing data to file using “w” mode the previous
content of existing file will be overwritten and new content will be saved.

If we want to add new data without overwriting the previous content then we
should write using “a” mode i.e. append mode.
 write() using “a” mode

New content is
added after previous
content
using writelines()
▪ When we write any data to file, python hold
everything in buffer (temporary memory) and
pushes it onto actual file later. If you want to
force Python to write the content of buffer
onto storage, you can use flush() function.
▪ Python automatically flushes the files when
closing them i.e. it will be implicitly called by
the close(), BUT if you want to flush before
closing any file you can use flush()
 Nothing is in
the file
temp.txt
Without flush()

When you run the above code, program will

stopped at “Press any key”, for time being
don’t press any key and go to folder where
file “temp.txt” is created an open it to see
what is in the file till now
NOW PRESS ANY KEY….

Now content is stored,

because of close() function
contents are flushed and
pushed in file
 All contents
before flush()
With flush() are present
in file

When you run the above code, program will

stopped at “Press any key”, for time being
don’t press any key and go to folder where
file “temp.txt” is created an open it to see
what is in the file till now
NOW PRESS ANY KEY….

Rest of the content is

written because of close(),
contents are flushed and
pushed in file.
▪ read() and readline() reads data from file and
return it in the form of string and readlines()
returns data in the form of list.
▪ All these read function also read leading and
trailing whitespaces, new line characters. If you
want to remove these characters you can use
functions
 strip() : removes the given character from both ends.
 lstrip(): removes given character from left end
 rstrip(): removes given character from right end
▪ Every file maintains a file pointer which tells the
current position in the file where reading and
writing operation will take.
▪ When we perform any read/write operation two
things happens:
 The operation at the current position of file pointer
 File pointer advances by the specified number of
bytes.
myfile = open(“ipl.txt”,”r”)

File pointer will be by default at first position i.e. first character

ch = myfile.read(1)
ch will store first character i.e. first character is consumed, and file pointer will
move to next character
FILE MODE OPENING POSITION
r, r+, rb, rb+, r+b Beginning of file
w, w+, wb, wb+, w+b Beginning of file (overwrites the file if
file already exists
a, ab, a+, ab+, a+b At the end of file if file exists otherwise
creates a new file
▪ Standard Input : Keyboard
▪ Standard Output : Monitor
▪ Standard error : Monitor

▪ Standard Input devices(stdin) reads from

keyboard
▪ Standard output devices(stdout) display output
on monitor
▪ Standard error devices(stderr) same as stdout
but normally for errors only.
Standard INPUT, OUTPUT and ERROR STREAM
▪ The standard devices are implemented as
files called standard streams in Python and
we can use them by using sys module.
▪ After importing sys module we can use
standard streams stdin, stdout, stderr
▪ Python’s “with” statement for file handling is
very handy when you have two related
operations which you would like to execute as a
pair, with a block of code in between:
with open(filename[, mode]) as filehandle:
file_manipulation_statement
▪ The advantage of “with” is it will automatically
close the file after nested block of code. It
guarantees to close the file how nested block
exits even if any run time error occurs
▪ If we want to write a structure such as list or
dictionary to a file and read it subsequently
we need to use the Python module pickle.
Pickling is the process of converting structure
to a byte stream before writing to a file and
while reading the content of file a reverse
process called Unpickling is used to convert
the byte stream back to the original format.
Steps to perform binary file operations

▪ First we need to import the module called

pickle.
▪ This module provides 2 main functions:
 dump() : to write the object in file which is loaded
in binary mode
◾Syntax : dump(object_to_write, filehandle)

 load() : dumped data can be read from file using

load() i.e. it is used to read object from pickle file.
◾Syntax: object = load(filehandle)
See the content is some kind
of encrypted format, and it is
not in complete readable
form
▪ To understand PATH we must be familiar with
the terms: DRIVE, FOLDER/DIRECTORY,
FILES.
▪ Our hard disk is logically divided into many
parts called DRIVES like C DRIVE, D DRIVE
etc.
▪ The drive is the main container in which we
put everything to store.
▪ The naming format is : DRIVE_LETTER:
▪ For e.g. C: , D:
▪ Drive is also known as ROOT DIRECTORY.
▪ Drive contains Folder and Files.
▪ Folder contains sub-folders or files
▪ Files are the actual data container.
DRIVE
FOLDER
 DRIVE/FOLDER/FILE HIERARCHY

C:\
DRIV E

SALES IT HR PROD
FOLDE R FOLDE R FOLDE R FOLDE R

2018 2019 MEMBERS.DOC NOIDA DELHI

FOLDE R FOLDE R FOLDE R FOLDE R FOLDE R

REVENUE.TXT SHEET.XLS SEC_8.XLS SEC_12.PPT

FILE FILE FILE FILE
▪ Absolute path is the full address of any file or
folder from the Drive i.e. from ROOT
FOLDER. It is like:
Drive_Name:\Folder\Folder…\filename
▪ For e.g. the Absolute path of file
REVENUE.TXT will be
 C:\SALES\2018\REVENUE.TXT
▪ Absolute path of SEC_12.PPT is
 C:\PROD\NOIDA\Sec_12.ppt
▪ Relative Path is the location of file/folder
from the current folder.To use Relative path
special symbols are:
 Single Dot ( . ) : single dot ( . ) refers to current
folder.
 Double Dot ( .. ) : double dot ( .. ) refers to parent
folder
 Backslash ( \ ) : first backslash before (.) and
double dot( .. ) refers to ROOT folder.
 Current working directory
C:\
DRIVE

SALES IT HR PROD
FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER

2018 2019 MEMBERS.DOC NOIDA DELHI

FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER

REVENUE.TXT SHEET.XLS SEC_8.XLS SEC_12.PPT

FILE FILE FILE FILE

SUPPOSECURRENTWORKING DIRECTORY IS : SALES

WEWANTTO ACCESS SHEET.XLS FILE,THEN RELATIVEADDRESSWILL BE

.\2019\SHEET.XLS
 Current working
directory
C:\
DRIVE

SALES IT HR PROD
FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER

2018 2019 MEMBERS.DOC NOIDA DELHI

FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER FOLDER

REVENUE.TXT SHEET.XLS SEC_8.XLS SEC_12.PPT

FILE FILE FILE FILE

SUPPOSECURRENTWORKING DIRECTORY IS : DELHI

WEWANTTO ACCESS SEC_8.XLS FILE,THEN RELATIVEADDRESSWILL BE
..\NOIDA\SEC_8.XLS
import os
pwd = os.getcwd()
print("Current Directory :",pwd)