File Handling

Creating and Manipulating Files

SoftUni Team
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Table of Contents

1. Python File Object

2. Opening a File
 File Modes
3. Reading a File
4. Writing and Creating a File
 Closing a File
 with Statement
5. Deleting a File 2
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 Python File Object
Built-In Functions to Create and Manipulate Files
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Python File Object
 Built-in functions to create and manipulate files
 io module is the default module for accessing files
 Don't need to import it
 open() returns a file object whose type depends on:
 The mode
 File operations such as reading and writing
 Files in a text mode ('w', 'r', 'wt', 'rt', etc.) returns a
TextIOWrapper
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 Opening a File
Opens a File and Returns a File Object
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open() Function
 open() function in Python opens a file and returns a file
object file = open('text.txt', 'r')
 The arguments are file name and the mode (reading and
etc.)
 All arguments except file are optional and have default
values
 If the file is not in the current directory, the full path to the
file can be provided file = open('D:\\text.txt', 'r')
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open() Function With Invalid File
 If the file does not exist, FileNotFoundError is thrown
file = open('invalid.txt', 'r') # FileNotFoundError

 It can be caught a try-finally block

try:
file = open('invalid.txt', 'r') # FileNotFoundError
except FileNotFoundError:
print("File not found or path is incorrect")
finally:
print("exit")

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File Modes
 The mode argument is optional and specifies the mode for manipulating the
file
 Its default value is 'r' - open for reading in text mode
 File modes in Python
 w - open for writing, truncating the file first
 x - create a new file and open it for writing
 a - open for writing, appending to the end of the file if it exists
 t - text mode (default)
 b - binary mode
 + - open a disk file for updating (reading and writing)
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Problem: File Opener
 Create program that opens the file called 'text.txt'
 If the file is found, print 'File found'
 If the file is not found, print 'File not found'
try:
text_file = open('text.txt', 'r')
print("File found")
except FileNotFoundError:
print("File not found")

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 Reading a File
Build-In Methods for Reading from File
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Reading Functions - read()
 Returns the first n bytes of the file
 Returns the entire file if number of bytes is not passed as an
argument
file = open("asd.txt") # 'Hello, SoftUni!'
print(file.read(2)) # 'He'
print(file.read(2)) # 'll'
print(file.read(2)) # 'o,'
print(file.read()) # ' SoftUni!'

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Reading Functions - readline()
 Returns at most n bytes of a single line of a file
 It does not read more than one line
 If no argument is passed, the entire line (or rest of the line)
is read
file = open("text.txt") # 'Hello, SoftUni!'
print(file.readline(5)) # 'Hello'
print(file.readline(5)) # ' ,Sof'
print(file.readline(5)) # 'tUni!'
print(file.readline()) # '' Goes to the new line
print(file.readline(5)) # 'Secon' Print second line
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Reading Functions - readlines()
 Read the remaining lines from the file object and returns
them as a list
file = open("text.txt")
print(file.readlines())
# ['Every\n', 'Word\n', 'is\n', 'line']

 Keep in mind every line in the file treats the new line
symbol as a string file = open("text.txt")
lines = file.readlines()
[print(line, end="") for line in lines]
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Looping Over a File Object
 To return all lines from a file you can loop over it
 More memory efficient and fast manner
 Simple and easy to read

file = open("python.txt", 'r')

for line in file:

print(line, end="")
# print every line in a new line
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Problem: File Reader
 Create a program that reads the numbers from the file
called 'numbers.txt'
 Print on the console the sum of those numbers

numbers_file = open('numbers.txt', 'r')

numbers_sum = 0
for number in numbers_file:
numbers_sum += int(number)
print(numbers_sum)

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 Writing and Creating a File
Write, Append, Close Methods and with Statement
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Creating and Writing a File
 Using 'w' (write) mode creates a file with the given name
 If the file exists, its overwritten
file = open('python.txt', 'w')
# Creates or open the file

file.write("This is the write command.\n")

file.write("It allows us to write in a particular file")
file.close()

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Append to a File
 Using 'a' mode, open a file and write at the end of the file
 If the file is not existing, it's created
file = open('python.txt', 'a')
file.write("This is the write command.\n")
file.write("It allows us to write in a particular file")
file.close()

file = open('python.txt', 'a')

lines = ["Write ", "in ", "file"]
file.writelines(lines) # Write multiple strings
file.close()
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Closing a Files
 We should always make sure that an open file is
properly closed
 In most cases, upon the termination of an
application or script, a file will be closed eventually
 There is no guarantee when exactly that will happen
 To avoid unwanted behaviour always close the files
 This is a good practice!

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with Statement
 Files opened with with statement will be closed
automatically once it leaves the with block
 Provide much cleaner syntax and exceptions
handling

with open("file.txt", "w") as f:

f.write("Hello World!!!")

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Problem: File Writer
 Create a program that creates a file called
'my_first_file.txt'
 In that file write a single line with the content: 'I just
created my first file!'
created_file = open('my_first_file.txt', 'w')
created_file.write('I just created my first file!')

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 Deleting a File
OS module, Check File Exists and Delete File
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Deleting a File (1)
 To delete a file, you must import the os module
import os

os.remove("python.txt")
os.remove("D:\\text.txt") # Can use full path

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Deleting a File (2)
 Keep in mind if the file does not exist, an error will
be raised
 To avoid getting an error
 Check whether the file exists
 Delete file import os

file_path = "text.txt"
if os.path.exists(file_path):
os.remove(file_path)

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Problem: File Delete
 Create a program that deletes the file you created in the
previous task
 If you try to delete the file multiple times, print the
message: 'File already deleted!'
import os
try:
os.remove('my_first_file.txt')
except FileNotFoundError:
print("File already deleted!")

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 Practice
Live Exercise in Class (Lab)
Summary

 Open or create a file

 Choose appropriate file mode
 Manipulate the file
 Close the file
 Delete file
 Import OS module
 Check whether the file exists
 Delete file
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Questions?

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