Python File Handling
• 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:
• Eg:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.read())
o/p:
Hello! Welcome to demofile.txt
This file is for testing purposes.
Good Luck!
• If the file is located in a different location, you will
have to specify the file path, like this:
Eg:
f = open("D:\\myfiles\welcome.txt", "r")
print(f.read())
o/p:
Welcome to this text file!
This file is located in a folder named "myfiles", on
the D drive.
Good Luck!
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:
Eg:
f = open("demofile.txt", "r")
print(f.read(5))
o/p:
Hello
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
Eg:
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())
o/p:
Hello! Welcome to demofile2.txt
This file is for testing purposes.
Good Luck!Now the file has more content!
Eg:
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())
o/p:
Woops! I have deleted the content!
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 exist
• "a" - Append - will create a file if the specified
file does not exist
• "w" - Write - will create a file if the specified
file does not exist
Example
• Create a file called "myfile.txt":
• f = open("myfile.txt", "x")
Result: a new empty file is created!
Example
• Create a new file if it does not exist:
• f = open("myfile.txt", "w")
Python Delete File
Delete a File
• To delete a file, you must import the OS
module, and run its os.remove() function:
Eg:
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")
o/p:
Delete Folder
• To delete an entire folder, use
the os.rmdir() method:
Example
• Remove the folder "myfolder":
import os
os.rmdir("myfolder")
