Python Programming

File Handling in Python

Beginner Lesson 8 of 10

File Handling

Learn to work with files in Python - reading, writing, and managing file operations.

Opening Files

# Using context manager (recommended)
with open("file.txt", "r") as f:
    content = f.read()

# File modes
# 'r' - read (default)
# 'w' - write (overwrites)
# 'a' - append
# 'x' - create (fails if exists)
# 'b' - binary mode

Reading Files

# Read entire file
with open("file.txt", "r") as f:
    content = f.read()

# Read line by line
with open("file.txt", "r") as f:
    for line in f:
        print(line.strip())

# Read all lines as list
with open("file.txt", "r") as f:
    lines = f.readlines()

Writing Files

with open("output.txt", "w") as f:
    f.write("Hello, World!\n")
    f.writelines(["Line 1\n", "Line 2\n"])

Working with JSON

import json

# Write JSON
data = {"name": "Alice", "age": 25}
with open("data.json", "w") as f:
    json.dump(data, f, indent=2)

# Read JSON
with open("data.json", "r") as f:
    data = json.load(f)

Next Steps

Continue to Exception Handling →