File handling is an essential aspect of any programming language, and Python is no exception. It allows you to interact with data stored on your computer’s hard drive or other storage devices. This guide will introduce you to file handling in Python, providing clear and concise explanations along with up-to-date code examples.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to read, write, and manage files in Python.
Reading Files
To start working with files in Python, first, you need to open them. You can do this by calling the open() function and specifying the name of the file as its argument. Once opened, you can use various methods to access the contents of the file. Here are some common ways to read files in Python:
1. Reading a whole file at once
Use the read() method to load the entire content into memory as a string.
with open('example.txt', 'r') as f:
contents = f.read()
print(contents)