open() in Python | Python open() Function with Examples

by Online Tutorials Library July 22, 2022

Python open() Function

The python open() function opens the file and returns a corresponding file object.

Signature

  open(file, mode=’r’, buffering=-1, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None, closefd=True, opener=None)  

Parameters

file: It is a path like object giving the pathname of the file to be opened.

mode (optional): It specifies the mode in which the file is opened. If not provided, it defaults to ‘r’ which means open for reading in text mode.

buffering (optional): It is used to set buffering policy.

encoding (optional): It is a name of the encoding to encode or decode the file.

errors (optional): A string that specify how to handle encoding/decoding errors.

newline (optional): It controls how newlines mode works (available values: None, ‘ ‘, ‘n’, ‘r’, and ‘rn’

closefd (optional): It must be True (default) if given otherwise an exception will be raised.

opener (optional): a custom opener; must return an open file descriptor.

Return

It returns a file object which can used to read, write and modify file.

Python open() Function Example 1

The below example shows how to open a file in Python.

  # opens python.text file of the current directory  f = open(“python.txt”)  # specifying full path  f = open(“C:/Python33/README.txt”)  

Output:

Since the mode is omitted, the file is opened in 'r' mode; opens for reading.

Python open() Function Example 2

The below example providing mode to open().

  # file opens for read  f = open(“path_to_file”, mode=’r’)  # file opens for write   f = open(“path_to_file”, mode = ‘w’)  # file opens for writing to the end   f = open(“path_to_file”, mode = ‘a’)  

Output:

f = open("path_to_file", mode = 'r', encoding='utf-8')

Explanation: In the above example, we specify different modes(‘r’, ‘w’, ‘a’) for opening a file.

Next TopicPython Functions