Files

Note: VC Code does not, by default, run python files in the directory where they are saved. To change this behavior, click Code > Settings > Settings, search for "python.terminal.executeInFileDir", and enable it.

Read from a File

from pathlib import Path

path = Path('gravitys_rainbow.txt')      # specify path to file (in current directory)
try:                                     # begin error handling
    contents = path.read_text().rstrip() # read contents into a string, removing any whitespace

    print(f'File as one string:\n{contents}')

    lines = contents.splitlines()        # separate file by line breaks
    print('File as one string per line:')
    for line in lines:
        print(line)
except FileNotFoundError:                # If file not found
    print(f"Sorry, the file {path} does not exist.")

Write to a File

from pathlib import Path

gr = "A screaming comes across the sky. "
gr += "It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now. "
gr += "It is too late. The evacuation still proceeds, but it's all theatre."
gr_file = Path('gravitys_rainbow.txt') # creates file if it doesn't exist
gr_file.write_text(gr)

Reading and Writing JSON

from pathLib import Path
import json

numbers = [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13]

path = Path('numbers.json')
contents = json.dumps(numbers)       # convert the numbers list to json format
path.write_text(contents)

path = Path('numbers.json')
contents = Path.read_text()
read_numbers = json.loads(contents)

print(numbers)