Reading and writing files

The file Reading/Writing process

To read/write to a file in Python, you will want to use the with statement, which will close the file for you after you are done, managing the available resources for you.

Opening and reading files

The open function opens a file and return a corresponding file object.

>>> with open('C:\\Users\\your_home_folder\\hi.txt') as hello_file:
...     hello_content = hello_file.read()
...
>>> hello_content
'Hello World!'

Alternatively, you can use the readlines() method to get a list of string values from the file, one string for each line of text:

>>> with open('sonnet29.txt') as sonnet_file:
...     sonnet_file.readlines()
...
# [When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,\n',
# ' I all alone beweep my  outcast state,\n',
# And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,\n', And
# look upon myself and curse my fate,']

You can also iterate through the file line by line:

>>> with open('sonnet29.txt') as sonnet_file:
...     for line in sonnet_file:
...         print(line, end='')
...
# When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
# I all alone beweep my outcast state,
# And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
# And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Writing to files

>>> with open('bacon.txt', 'w') as bacon_file:
...     bacon_file.write('Hello world!\n')
...
# 13

>>> with open('bacon.txt', 'a') as bacon_file:
...     bacon_file.write('Bacon is not a vegetable.')
...
# 25

>>> with open('bacon.txt') as bacon_file:
...     content = bacon_file.read()
...
>>> print(content)
# Hello world!
# Bacon is not a vegetable.

Python abs() built-in function Python aiter() built-in function Python all() built-in function Python any() built-in function Python ascii() built-in function Python bin() built-in function Python bool() built-in function Python breakpoint() built-in function Python bytearray() built-in function Python bytes() built-in function Python callable() built-in function Python chr() built-in function Python classmethod() built-in function Python compile() built-in function Python complex() built-in function Python delattr() built-in function Python dict() built-in function Python dir() built-in function Python divmod() built-in function Python enumerate() built-in function Python eval() built-in function Python exec() built-in function Python filter() built-in function Python float() built-in function Python format() built-in function Python frozenset() built-in function Python getattr() built-in function Python globals() built-in function Python hasattr() built-in function Python hash() built-in function Python help() built-in function Python hex() built-in function Python id() built-in function Python __import__() built-in function Python input() built-in function Python int() built-in function Python isinstance() built-in function Python issubclass() built-in function Python iter() built-in function Python len() built-in function Python list() built-in function Python locals() built-in function Python map() built-in function Python max() built-in function Python memoryview() built-in function Python min() built-in function Python next() built-in function Python object() built-in function Python oct() built-in function Python open() built-in function Python ord() built-in function Python pow() built-in function Python print() built-in function Python property() built-in function Python range() built-in function Python repr() built-in function Python reversed() built-in function Python round() built-in function Python set() built-in function Python setattr() built-in function Python slice() built-in function Python sorted() built-in function Python staticmethod() built-in function Python str() built-in function Python sum() built-in function Python super() built-in function Python tuple() built-in function Python type() built-in function Python vars() built-in function Python zip() built-in function