Exercise

Question 1(a)
Differentiate between text file and binary file.
Answer

Text File Binary File

A binary file is made up of

A text file consists of non-human readable
human readable characters and symbols,
characters, which can be which require specific
opened by any text editor. programs to access its
contents.

A text file is a file that

A binary file is a file that
stores information in the
stores the information in the
form of a stream of ASCII
form of a stream of bytes.
or Unicode characters.

In text files, each line of

In a binary file, there is no
text is terminated with a
delimiter for a line and no
special character known
character translations occur
as EOL (End of Line)
here.
character.

Files with extensions

Files with extensions
like .txt, .py, .csv etc are
like .jpg, .pdf etc are some
some examples of text
examples of binary files.
files.

Question 1(b)
Differentiate between readline() and readlines().
Answer

readline() readlines()

The readline() function reads The readlines() function,

from a file in read mode and also reads from a file in
returns the next line in the file read mode and returns a
 readline() readlines()

or a blank string if there are no

list of all lines in the file.
more lines.

The returned data is of string The returned data is of list

type. type.

Question 1(c)
Differentiate between write() and writelines().
Answer

write() writelines()

The write() method is

The writelines() method is used
used to write a single
to write multiple strings to a file.
string to a file.

The writelines() method takes

The write() method
an iterable object like lists,
takes a string as an
tuple, etc. containing strings as
argument.
an argument.

The write() method

The writelines() method does
returns the number of
not return the number of
characters written on to
characters written in the file.
the file.

Question 2
Write the use and syntax for the following methods:
1. open()
2. read()
3. seek()
4. dump()

Answer
1. open() — The open() method opens the given file in the given mode and
associates it with a file handle. Its syntax is file_object = open(file_name,
access_mode).
 2. read() — The read() method is used to read data from a file object. It reads at
most 'n' bytes from the file, where 'n' is an optional parameter. If no 'n' is
specified, the read() method reads the entire contents of the file. Its syntax
is: file_object.read(n).
3. seek() — This method is used to position the file object at a particular position
in a file. Its syntax is: file_object.seek(offset [, reference_point]) .
4. dump() — This method is used to convert (pickling) Python objects for writing
data in a binary file. Its syntax is : dump(data_object, file_object).

Question 3
Write the file mode that will be used for opening the following files. Also, write the
Python statements to open the following files:
1. a text file “example.txt” in both read and write mode.
2. a binary file “bfile.dat” in write mode.
3. a text file “try.txt” in append and read mode.
4. a binary file “btry.dat” in read only mode.

Answer
1. File Mode: 'r+'
fh = open("example.txt", "r+")

2. File Mode: 'wb'

fh = open("bfile.dat", "wb")

3. File Mode: 'a+'

fh = open("try.txt", "a+")

4. File Mode: 'rb'

fh = open("btry.dat", "rb")

Question 4
Why is it advised to close a file after we are done with the read and write operations?
What will happen if we do not close it ? Will some error message be flashed ?
Answer
It is a good practice to close a file once we are done with the read and write
operations. When we close a file, the system frees the memory allocated to it. Python
ensures that any unwritten or unsaved data is flushed (written) to the file before it is
closed. Therefore, it is always advised to close the file once our work is done. If we do
not close file explicitly it will close automatically later when it's no longer in use or
when the program terminates, without displaying any error message.
Question 5
What is the difference between the following set of statements (a) and (b):
(a)
P = open("practice.txt", "r")
P.read(10)

(b)
with open("practice.txt", "r") as P:
x = P.read()

Answer
The code given in (a) will open file "practice.txt" in read mode and will read 10 bytes
from it. Also, it will not close the file explicitly. On the other hand, the code given in (b)
will open file "practice.txt" in read mode and will read the entire content of the file.
Furthermore, it will automatically close the file after executing the code due to the with
clause.

Question 6
Write a command(s) to write the following lines to the text file named hello.txt. Assume
that the file is opened in append mode.
“ Welcome my class”
“It is a fun place”
“You will learn and play”
Answer
file = open("hello.txt", "a")
lines = [
"Welcome my class\n",
"It is a fun place\n",
"You will learn and play"
]
file.writelines(lines)
file.close()

Question 7
Write a Python program to open the file hello.txt used in question no 6 in read mode to
display its contents. What will be the difference if the file was opened in write mode
instead of append mode?
Answer
f = open("hello.txt", "r")
st = " "
while st:
st = f.readlines()
 print(st)
f.close()

If the file "hello.txt" was opened in write mode instead of append mode, it would have
overwritten the existing content of the file. In write mode ("w"), opening the file
truncates its content if it already exists and starts writing from the beginning.
Therefore, the previous contents of the file would have been replaced with the new
lines provided in the write mode code snippet.

Question 8
Write a program to accept string/sentences from the user till the user enters “END” to.
Save the data in a text file and then display only those sentences which begin with an
uppercase alphabet.
Answer
f = open("new.txt", "w")
while True:
st = input("Enter next line:")
if st == "END":
break
f.write(st + '\n')
f.close()

f = open("new.txt", "r")
while True:
st = f.readline()
if not st:
break
if st[0].isupper():
print(st)
f.close()

Output

Enter next line:Hello world

Enter next line:welcome to
Enter next line:Python programming
Enter next line:END
Hello world

Python programming

Question 9
Define pickling in Python. Explain serialization and deserialization of Python object.
Answer
The pickling process serializes objects and converts them into a byte stream so that
they can be stored in binary files.
Serialization is the process of transforming data or an object in memory (RAM) into a
stream of bytes called byte streams. These byte streams, in a binary file, can then be
stored on a disk, in a database, or sent through a network. The serialization process is
also called pickling. Deserialization or unpickling is the inverse of the pickling process,
where a byte stream is converted back into a Python object.

Question 10
Write a program to enter the following records in a binary file :
Item No — integer
Item_Name — string
Qty — integer
Price — float
Number of records to be entered should be accepted from the user. Read the file to
display the records in the following format:
Item No :
Item Name :
Quantity :
Price per item :
Amount : ( to be calculated as Price * Qty)
Answer
import pickle

with open("item.dat", 'wb') as itemfile:

n = int(input("How many records to be entered? "))
for i in range(n):
ino = int(input("Enter item no: "))
iname = input("Enter item name: ")
qty = int(input("Enter quantity: "))
price = float(input("Enter price: "))
item = {"Item no": ino, "Item Name": iname, "Qty": qty, "Price":
price}
pickle.dump(item, itemfile)
print("Successfully written item data")

with open("item.dat", "rb") as file:

try:
while True:
item = pickle.load(file)
print("\nItem No:", item["Item no"])
print("Item Name:", item["Item Name"])
print("Quantity:", item["Qty"])
print("Price per item:", item["Price"])
print("Amount:", item["Qty"] * item["Price"])
except EOFError:
pass
Output

How many records to be entered? 5

Enter item no: 11
Enter item name: Mobile
Enter quantity: 4
Enter price: 20000
Enter item no: 12
Enter item name: Laptop
Enter quantity: 2
Enter price: 35000
Enter item no: 13
Enter item name: Computer
Enter quantity: 1
Enter price: 50000
Enter item no: 14
Enter item name: Television
Enter quantity: 4
Enter price: 25000

Item No: 11
Item Name: Mobile
Quantity: 4
Price per item: 20000.0
Amount: 80000.0

Item No: 12
Item Name: Laptop
Quantity: 2
Price per item: 35000.0
Amount: 70000.0

Item No: 13
Item Name: Computer
Quantity: 1
Price per item: 50000.0
Amount: 50000.0

Item No: 14
Item Name: Television
Quantity: 4
Price per item: 25000.0
Amount: 100000.0