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UNIT4 PYTHON

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Varsha Saxena
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13 views

UNIT4 PYTHON

Uploaded by

Varsha Saxena
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT-4

Python File Open


File handling is an important part of any web application.
Python has several functions for creating, reading, updating, and
deleting files.

File Handling
The key function for working with files in Python is
the open() function.
The open() function takes two parameters; filename, and mode.
There are four different methods (modes) for opening a file:
"r" - Read - Default value. Opens a file for reading, error if the file
does not exist
"a" - Append - Opens a file for appending, creates the file if it does
not exist
"w" - Write - Opens a file for writing, creates the file if it does not
exist
"x" - Create - Creates the specified file, returns an error if the file
exists
In addition you can specify if the file should be handled as binary or
text mode
"t" - Text - Default value. Text mode
"b" - Binary - Binary mode (e.g. images)
Syntax
To open a file for reading it is enough to specify the name of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt")
The code above is the same as:
f = open("demofile.txt", "rt")
Because "r" for read, and "t" for text are the default values, you do
not need to specify them.
Python File Open-
Open a File on the Server
Assume we have the following file, located in the same folder as
Python:
demofile.txt
Hello! Welcome to demofile.txt
This file is for testing purposes.
Good Luck!
To open the file, use the built-in open() function.
The open() function returns a file object, which has a read() method
for reading the content of the file:
Example-
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.read())
If the file is located in a different location, you will have to specify the
file path, like this:
Example
Open a file on a different location:
f = open("D:\\myfiles\welcome.txt", "r")
print(f.read())
Read Only Parts of the File
By default the read() method returns the whole text, but you can also
specify how many characters you want to return:
Example
Return the 5 first characters of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.read(5))
Read Lines
You can return one line by using the readline() method:
Example
Read one line of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.readline())
By calling readline() two times, you can read the two first lines:
Example
Read two lines of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.readline())
print(f.readline())
By calling readline() two times, you can read the two first lines:
Example
Read two lines of the file:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.readline())
print(f.readline())
Close Files
It is a good practice to always close the file when you are done with
it.
Example
Close the file when you are finished with it:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.readline())
f.close()
Python File Write-
Write to an Existing File
To write to an existing file, you must add a parameter to
the open() function:
"a" - Append - will append to the end of the file
"w" - Write - will overwrite any existing content
ExampleGet your own Python Server
Open the file "demofile2.txt" and append content to the file:
f = open("demofile2.txt", "a")
f.write("Now the file has more content!")
f.close()

#open and read the file after the appending:


f = open("demofile2.txt", "r")
print(f.read())

Open the file "demofile3.txt" and overwrite the content:


f = open("demofile3.txt", "w")
f.write("Woops! I have deleted the content!")
f.close()
#open and read the file after the overwriting:
f = open("demofile3.txt", "r")
print(f.read())
the "w" method will overwrite the entire file.
Create a New File
To create a new file in Python, use the open() method, with one of
the following parameters:
"x" - Create - will create a file, returns an error if the file exists
"a" - Append - will create a file if the specified file does not exists
"w" - Write - will create a file if the specified file does not exists
Example
Create a file called "myfile.txt":
f = open("myfile.txt", "x")
Result: a new empty file is created!
Delete a File
To delete a file, you must import the OS module, and run
its os.remove() function:
ExampleGet your own Python Server
Remove the file "demofile.txt":
import os
os.remove("demofile.txt")
Check if File exist:
To avoid getting an error, you might want to check if the file exists
before you try to delete it:
Example
Check if file exists, then delete it:
import os
if os.path.exists("demofile.txt"):
os.remove("demofile.txt")
else:
print("The file does not exist")
Delete Folder
To delete an entire folder, use the os.rmdir() method:
Example
Remove the folder "myfolder":
import os
os.rmdir("myfolder")
You can only remove empty folders.

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