This file behaves like any other file on your computer.
You can open it,
write new text in it, copy from it, paste to it, and so forth.
NOTE Python can only write strings to a text file. If you want to store numerical data
in a text file, you’ll have to convert the data to string format first using the str()
function.
Writing Multiple Lines
The write_text() method does a few things behind the scenes. If the file that
path points to doesn’t exist, it creates that file. Also, after writing the string
to the file, it makes sure the file is closed properly. Files that aren’t closed
properly can lead to missing or corrupted data.
To write more than one line to a file, you need to build a string contain-
ing the entire contents of the file, and then call write_text() with that string.
Let’s write several lines to the programming.txt file:
from pathlib import Path
contents = "I love programming.\n"
contents += "I love creating new games.\n"
contents += "I also love working with data.\n"
path = Path('programming.txt')
path.write_text(contents)
We define a variable called contents that will hold the entire contents of
the file. On the next line, we use the += operator to add to this string. You
can do this as many times as you need, to build strings of any length. In this
case we include newline characters at the end of each line, to make sure
each statement appears on its own line.
If you run this and then open programming.txt, you’ll see each of these
lines in the text file:
I love programming.
I love creating new games.
I also love working with data.
You can also use spaces, tab characters, and blank lines to format your
output, just as you’ve been doing with terminal-based output. There’s no
limit to the length of your strings, and this is how many computer-generated
documents are created.
NOTE Be careful when calling write_text() on a path object. If the file already exists,
write_text() will erase the current contents of the file and write new contents
to the file. Later in this chapter, you’ll learn to check whether a file exists using
pathlib.
Files and Exceptions 191
