{"id":5999,"date":"2020-05-29T12:58:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T12:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/?p=5999"},"modified":"2023-02-16T19:57:05","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T19:57:05","slug":"python-open-method","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/built-in-methods\/python-open-method","title":{"rendered":"Opening a File Using open() Method in Python"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We have come across the various operations that could be performed on a file using Python, like <a aria-label=\"reading (opens in a new tab)\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/built-in-methods\/python-read-file\" target=\"_blank\">reading<\/a>, <a aria-label=\"writing (opens in a new tab)\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/built-in-methods\/python-write-file\" target=\"_blank\">writing<\/a>, or <a aria-label=\"copying (opens in a new tab)\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/copy-a-file-in-python\" target=\"_blank\">copying<\/a>. In performing any of these mentioned <a aria-label=\"file- handling (opens in a new tab)\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/python-file-handling\" target=\"_blank\">file- handling<\/a> operations, it was clear that opening the file is the first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So today in this tutorial, we are going to focus on the file opening part using <strong>the Python open() method<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The open() Method in Python<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <code>open()<\/code> method opens a particular file in the specified mode and returns a <strong>file object<\/strong>. This file object can be then further be used for performing various file manipulations. The syntax for using the method is given below.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \"><pre class=\"brush: python; title: ; quick-code: false; notranslate\" title=\"\">\nopen(file, mode=&#039;r&#039;, buffering=-1, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None, closefd=True, opener=None)\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Here,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>file<\/strong> refers to the file name\/descriptor and <code>mode<\/code> is the mode in which the file is to be opened. These are the basic parameters required for opening a file.<\/li><li><strong>buffering<\/strong> is an optional integer used to set the buffering policy. By default it is set to (-1),<\/li><li><strong>encoding<\/strong> is the name of the encoding used to decode or encode the file,<\/li><li><strong>errors<\/strong> is an optional string that specifies how encoding and decoding errors are to be handle. Note, this cannot be used in binary mode.<\/li><li><strong>newline<\/strong> controls how universal newlines mode works (it only applies to text mode). It can be <code>None<\/code>(default), <code>''<\/code>, <code>'\\n'<\/code>, <code>'\\r'<\/code>and <code>'\\r\\n'<\/code>.<\/li><li><strong>closefd<\/strong> denotes whether the passed file parameter is a file name or a file descriptor. It should be False when a file descriptor is mentioned. Or else True(default). Otherwise, an error will be raised,<\/li><li><strong>opener <\/strong>is a callable custom opener. The specified file descriptor for the file object is obtained by calling this <code>opener<\/code> with (file, flags). opener must return an open file descriptor (passing <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.python.org\/3\/library\/os.html#os.open\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><code>os.open<\/code><\/a> as <em>opener<\/em> results in functionality similar to passing <code>None<\/code>).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opening modes for open() in Python<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The different file opening modes with there meaning are given below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Modes<\/td><td>Description<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><code>'r'<\/code><\/td><td>open for reading (default)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><code>'w'<\/code><\/td><td>open for writing, truncating the file first<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><code>'x'<\/code><\/td><td>open for exclusive creation, failing if the file already exists<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><code>'a'<\/code><\/td><td>open for writing, appending to the end of the file if it exists<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><code>'b'<\/code><\/td><td>binary mode<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><code>'t'<\/code><\/td><td>text mode (default)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><code>'+'<\/code><\/td><td>open for updating (reading and writing)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption>Table for file opening modes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Python open() Example<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that we are done with the basics of the <code>open()<\/code> method in Python, let us jump right into some examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are going to open a file named <strong>file.txt<\/strong> with contents(as shown below) using the <code>open()<\/code> method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"547\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/file-contents.png\" alt=\"File Contents\" class=\"wp-image-6120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/file-contents.png 547w, https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/file-contents-300x186.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\" \/><figcaption>File Contents<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at the code snippet give below carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \"><pre class=\"brush: python; title: ; notranslate\" title=\"\">\n# opening a file\nf = open(&#039;file.txt&#039;, &#039;r&#039;)  # file object\n\nprint(&quot;Type of f: &quot;, type(f))\n\nprint(&quot;File contents:&quot;)\n\nfor i in f:\n    print(i)\n\nf.close()  # closing file after successful operation\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \"><pre class=\"brush: python; title: ; notranslate\" title=\"\">\nType of f:  &lt;class &#039;_io.TextIOWrapper&#039;&gt;\nFile contents:\nPython\n\nJava\n\nGo\n\nC\n\nC++\n\nKotlin\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Here, we have opened the file <strong>file.txt<\/strong> in read-only(<code>' r '<\/code>) mode. The <code>open()<\/code> method returns a file object to <code> f <\/code>. Then we have iterated through this object using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/python-for-loop\" class=\"rank-math-link\">for loop<\/a> to access the content of the file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that, we have closed the file using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/python-file-handling#6-close()-function\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"close() (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">close()<\/a> method. It is important to close a file at the end after performing any operations over it to avoid <strong>errors<\/strong>. These errors could occur while opening the same file again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opening Multiple Files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In Python, we can open two or more files simultaneously by combining the <code>with<\/code> statement, <code>open()<\/code> method, and comma(<code>' , '<\/code>) operator. Let us take an example to get a better understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, we have tried to open two independent files <strong>file1.txt<\/strong> and <strong>file2.txt<\/strong> and print their corresponding content. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \"><pre class=\"brush: python; title: ; notranslate\" title=\"\">\n# opening multiple files\ntry:\n    with open(&#039;file1.txt&#039;, &#039;r+&#039;) as a, open(&#039;file2.txt&#039;, &#039;r+&#039;) as b:\n        print(&quot;File 1:&quot;)\n        for i in a:\n            print(i)\n        print(&quot;File 2:&quot;)\n        for j in b:\n            print(j)\nexcept IOError as e:\n    print(f&quot;An Error occured: {e}&quot;)\n\n# file closing is not required\n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code \"><pre class=\"brush: python; title: ; notranslate\" title=\"\">\nFile 1:\nJohn Alex Leo Mary Jim\nFile 2:\nSil Rantoff Pard Kim Parsons\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> We have not closed the files after using this time. It is because we do not need to, the <code>with<\/code> statement ensures that the opened files are closed automatically by calling the <code>close()<\/code> method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So that&#8217;s it for today. Hope you had a clear understanding. For any further related questions feel free to use the comments below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We recommend going through the links mentioned in the references section  for more info.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.python.org\/3\/library\/functions.html#open\" target=\"_blank\">Python open()<\/a> &#8211; Documentation,<\/li><li><a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/built-in-methods\/python-read-file\" target=\"_blank\">Python Read File \u2013 3 Ways You Must Know<\/a>,<\/li><li><a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/built-in-methods\/python-write-file\" target=\"_blank\">Python Write File<\/a>,<\/li><li><a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link rank-math-link rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/copy-a-file-in-python\" target=\"_blank\">Copy a File in Python<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction We have come across the various operations that could be performed on a file using Python, like reading, writing, or copying. In performing any of these mentioned file- handling operations, it was clear that opening the file is the first step. So today in this tutorial, we are going to focus on the file [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":6019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-built-in-methods"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}