Computer Science · Ch 2 — File Handling in Python
Opening a file using with clause
Opening a file using with clause
The with clause in Python provides a cleaner and safer way to work with files. Its real power is that it handles file closing automatically — you never have to remember to call close().
The syntax is:
with open(file_name, access_mode) as file_object:
Here, file_name is the name of the file (as a string), access_mode is the mode in which you want to open it (like 'r', 'w', 'r+', etc.), and file_object is the variable name you assign to work with the file inside the block.
The key advantage: once the indented block under the with statement finishes executing — whether normally or because of an exception — the file is closed automatically. You do not need to write an explicit close() call. This eliminates two common problems: forgetting to close a file, and leaving a file open if an error occurs partway through.
For example:
with open("myfile.txt", "r+") as myObject:
content = myObject.read()
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