Files

• Opening a file


  1. Use the built-in open() command

  2. Specify the file name

  3. Optionally specify the mode (read, write, append, etc.)
• Reading file contents

  1. Use file.read() to read the entire file

  2. Use file.readlines() to read the file line-by-line into a list

  3. Use a for loop to iterate over the lines in the file
• file.read(size)


  Reads a specified number of characters from the file
• If we try to write from within a file that we have opened in read mode we get an error that says that this is not writable
• If the file doesn't exist already then opening it in write mode will create it
• If the file does exist then opening it in write mode will overwrite it
• To avoid what? a file we can use a lowercase a for appending to the file


  To avoid overwriting a file we can use a lowercase a for appending to the file