Python File Handling

Python provides several functions to create, read, update, and delete files. File handling in Python requires no importing of modules.

Reading Text Files

Python uses the open() function to open a file. This function returns a file object which can be used to read, write and modify the file.

When you want to read from a file, you have two options:

1. Reading the Entire File:

with open("file path to text file") as f:
    text = f.read()

Here, open() is used to open the file that we want to read. read() is then used to read the entire content of the file.

1. Reading Line by Line:

with open("file path to text file") as f:
    for line in f.readlines():
        print(line)

In this case, readlines() is used to read the file line by line.

Writing to Text Files

The write() method is used to write to an opened file. Here is how you can write to a file in Python:

text = "Hello world!"

with open("file path to text file", 'w') as f:
    f.write(text)

In this case, write() is used to write the string text to the file.

Note: The open() function needs a second parameter ‘w’ which indicates that you want to write to the file.

Conclusion

File handling is an important part of any web application. Python has several functions for creating, reading, updating, and deleting files. With Python, you can do everything from reading a text file line by line, to writing to a text file.