File handling in Python
Python provides the basic functions and methods necessary to manipulate files by default. You can do most file manipulation using a file object.
We cannot express the data to be stored in a variable all the time because the variables are volatile in nature. So, to handle such situations, the role of files comes into the picture.
Since files are non-volatile in nature, the data will be stored permanently in a secondary device (e.g., Hard Disk) and handled with Python in our applications.
We do the operations on files in Python using some built-in methods or functions. With the Python programming language, we can handle both text files and binary files.
The following are the operations on files:
Open a file
Python has an in-built function called open() that opens a file:
open('filename', mode)
• filename: Gives the name of the file that the file object has opened.
• mode: An attribute of a file object that tells you the mode in which a file was opened.
# Opening file to read text (default mode: read)
with open("sample.txt", 'r') as my_file:
content = my_file.read() # read() returns the content of file
print("Reading file: ")
print(content)open() takes two arguments, the file that we want to open and a string that represents the kinds of permission or operation we want to do on the file. Here we have taken r to open a file in reading mode.
Create a file
# creating a file to write text (overwrites previous content if file already existing)
with open("sample.txt", 'w+') as my_file:
my_file.write("Replaced text!") # write() writes passed content to file
# Opening file to read text (default mode: read)
with open("sample.txt", 'r') as my_file:
content = my_file.read() # read() returns the content of file
print("Reading file: ")
print(content)Here we used the w letter in our argument, which indicates “write” and will create a file if it does not exist in the library. The + sign indicates both read and write mode.
Appending data to the file
# Opening file to append text
with open("sample.txt", 'a+') as my_file:
my_file.write(" Added more text!") # write() writes passed content to file
# Opening file to read text (default mode: read)
with open("sample.txt", 'r') as my_file:
content = my_file.read() # read() returns the content of file
print("Reading file: ")
print(content)The following shows the output of the text file “sample.txt”. You can clearly identify the difference between write and append: append will not replace the data; it will add the data to the end of the file; whereas, write will replace the data.
Closing a file
The close() method of a file object flushes any unwritten information and closes the file object.
After the file object is closed, no more writing can be done.
Python automatically closes a file when the reference object of a file is reassigned to another file. It is a good practice to use the close() method to close a file.
# Opening file to read text (default mode: read)
with open("sample.txt", 'r') as my_file:
content = my_file.read() # read() returns the content of file
print("Reading file: ")
print(content)
my_file.close()In the above example, the file object holds the “sample.txt” with reading mode. After writing, we close the file object using the close() method.
Renaming a file
Python provides us with an os module whose built-in methods help us to perform file operations (e.g., renaming and deleting) to the file.
In order to use this module, we need to import the os module in our program and then call the related methods.
The rename() method accepts two arguments, i.e., the current file name and the new file name.
import os
os.rename('sample.txt', 'example.txt')
Here, sample.txt is the current file name, and example.txt is the new file name.
You can specify the path instead of filenames as well.
Deleting a file
We use the remove() method to delete the file by supplying the file name or the file location that you want to delete.
import os
os.remove('sample.txt')
Along with the above functions, Python also has various other functions that help to manipulate the files and its contents.
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