File Handling
File handling is an important part of any web application.
Python has several functions for creating, reading, updating, and deleting files.
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("[Link]")
The code above is the same as:
f = open("[Link]", "rt")
Because "r" for read, and "t" for text are the default values, you do not need to specify them.
Note: Make sure the file exists, or else you will get an error.
Python File Open
Open a File on the Server
Assume we have the following file, located in the same folder as Python:
[Link]
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
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("[Link]")
print([Link]())
Output:
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
This file is for testing purposes.
Good Luck!
f 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\[Link]")
print([Link]())
Output:
Welcome to this text file!
This file is located in a folder named "myfiles", on the D drive.
Good Luck!
Using the with statement
You can also use the with statement when opening a file:
Example
Using the with keyword:
with open("[Link]") as f:
print([Link]())
Output:
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
This file is for testing purposes.
Good Luck!
Close Files
It is a good practice to always close the file when you are done with it.
If you are not using the with statement, you must write a close statement in order to close the
file:
Example
Close the file when you are finished with it:
f = open("[Link]")
print([Link]())
[Link]()
Output:
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
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:
with open("[Link]") as f:
print([Link](5))
Output:
Hello
Read Lines
You can return one line by using the readline() method:
Example
Read one line of the file:
with open("[Link]") as f:
print([Link]())
Output:
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
By calling readline() two times, you can read the two first lines:
Example
Read two lines of the file:
with open("[Link]") as f:
print([Link]())
print([Link]())
Output:
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
This file is for testing purposes.
By looping through the lines of the file, you can read the whole file, line by line:
Example
Loop through the file line by line:
with open("[Link]") as f:
for x in f:
print(x)
Output:
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
This file is for testing purposes.
Good Luck!
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
Example
Open the file "[Link]" and append content to the file:
with open("[Link]", "a") as f:
[Link]("Now the file has more content!")
#open and read the file after the appending:
with open("[Link]") as f:
print([Link]())
Output:
Hello! Welcome to [Link]
This file is for testing purposes.
Good Luck!Now the file has more content!
Overwrite Existing Content
To overwrite the existing content to the file, use the w parameter:
Example
Open the file "[Link]" and overwrite the content:
with open("[Link]", "w") as f:
[Link]("Woops! I have deleted the content!")
#open and read the file after the overwriting:
with open("[Link]") as f:
print([Link]())
Output:
Woops! I have deleted the content!
Note: 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 new file called "[Link]":
f = open("[Link]", "x")
Output:
Note: If the file already exist, an error will be raised.
Python Delete File
Delete a File
To delete a file, you must import the OS module, and run its [Link]() function:
Example
Remove the file "[Link]":
import os
[Link]("[Link]")
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 [Link]("[Link]"):
[Link]("[Link]")
else:
print("The file does not exist")
Delete Folder
To delete an entire folder, use the [Link]() method:
Example
Remove the folder "myfolder":
import os
[Link]("myfolder")
Note: You can only remove empty folders.