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Python

Posted by David Savoir
David Savoir
6,172 Points

How to read all content of a file in python, while that file is open ?

If a file was open for reading, how would you print the files' contents ? Note: I have already used f.readline/f.readlines so the pointer is already further down the content of the file.

I have thought about using f.seek(0, 0) and then f.read(), but is there any other (better) way ?

Thanks in advance,

2 Answers

Kenneth Love
STAFF
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher
Kenneth Love
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Most of the time, I'd then loop over the lines in the file, appending them to a variable. Then I can search/print/edit/etc the file contents without having the file open any longer. Something like:

contents = ""
with open('some_file.txt') as f:
    for line in f.readlines():
        contents += line

Once that for ends, the with will end and that will close the file. Now contents has the entire contents of the file and I can do with it whatever I want.

Ben Stoltz
Ben Stoltz
20,364 Points
Ben Stoltz
Ben Stoltz
20,364 Points

Hey David!

There are a few ways to go about this depending on the type of file.

For example some ways to do this: 

with open('Path/to/file', 'r') as content_file:
    content = content_file.read()

Or if you're working with a text file and want to return everything as one line:

with open ("data.txt", "r") as myfile:
    data=myfile.read().replace('\n', '')

If you're looking at working with CSV's (excel data, etc) I'd strongly recommend you take a look at the CSV module.

Good luck!