File handling is an essential part of programming that allows you to read from and write to files. In this post, we will explore how to handle files in Python, including reading, writing, and working with different file modes.
1. Opening and Closing Files
To work with files in Python, you first need to open them using the open() function, which returns a file object. After working with the file, it’s crucial to close it using the close() method to free up system resources.
Syntax:
python
file = open("filename", "mode")
# Perform file operations
file.close()
Example:
python
# Opening a file in read mode
file = open("example.txt", "r")
# Perform file operations
file.close()
File Modes:
- ‘r’: Read mode (default)
- ‘w’: Write mode (creates a new file or truncates an existing file)
- ‘a’: Append mode (adds content to the end of the file)
- ‘b’: Binary mode (used with other modes for binary files)
- ‘t’: Text mode (default, used with other modes for text files)
- ‘+’: Read and write mode (used with other modes)

2. Reading from Files
You can read the contents of a file using methods like read(), readline(), and readlines().
2.1. read() Method
Reads the entire content of the file as a string.
Example:
python
file = open("example.txt", "r")
content = file.read()
print(content)
file.close()
2.2. readline() Method
Reads one line at a time from the file.
Example:
python
file = open("example.txt", "r")
line = file.readline()
print(line)
file.close()
2.3. readlines() Method
Reads all the lines of the file and returns them as a list.
Example:
python
file = open("example.txt", "r")
lines = file.readlines()
for line in lines:
print(line.strip()) # Using strip() to remove newline characters
file.close()
3. Writing to Files
You can write content to a file using methods like write() and writelines().
3.1. write() Method
Writes a string to the file.
Example:
python
file = open("example.txt", "w")
file.write("Hello, World!")
file.close()
3.2. writelines() Method
Writes a list of strings to the file.
Example:
python
lines = ["Hello, World!\n", "Welcome to Python file handling.\n"]
file = open("example.txt", "w")
file.writelines(lines)
file.close()
4. Using with Statement
Using the with statement to open a file is recommended because it ensures that the file is properly closed after its suite finishes, even if an exception is raised.
Example:
python
with open(“example.txt”, “r”) as file:
content = file.read()
print(content)
5. File Handling in Binary Mode
For binary files (e.g., images, videos), you can use the ‘b’ mode.
Example:
python
# Reading a binary file
with open("example.jpg", "rb") as file:
content = file.read()
print(content[:10]) # Print the first 10 bytes
# Writing to a binary file
with open("example_copy.jpg", "wb") as file:
file.write(content)
6. File Handling Exceptions
When working with files, it’s crucial to handle exceptions that may arise, such as FileNotFoundError, IOError, etc.
Example:
python
try:
with open("nonexistent_file.txt", "r") as file:
content = file.read()
except FileNotFoundError:
print("File not found. Please check the file path.")
except IOError:
print("An error occurred while reading the file.")
Conclusion
In this post, we covered the basics of file handling in Python, including how to read from and write to files, work with different file modes, and handle exceptions. Understanding file handling is essential for many applications, such as data processing and logging. In the next post, we will explore error handling in Python, including try-except blocks and custom exceptions. Stay tuned!
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