Python Essentials For Dummies

Chapter 10

Working with External Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

Working with text and binary files

Opening, closing, and reading the contents of a file

Looping through a file

Reading and copying a binary file

Pretty much everything stored in your computer, be it a document, program, movie, photograph, and more, is stored in a file. Most files are organized into folders (also called directories). You can browse through folders and files by using Finder (on a Mac) or File Explorer or Windows Explorer (in Windows).

Python offers many tools for creating, reading from, and writing to many different kinds of files. In this chapter, you learn the most important skills for using Python code to work with files.

Understanding Text and Binary Files

There are basically two types of files:

• Text file: Contains plain text characters. When you open a text file in a text editor, it displays human-readable content. The text may not be in a language you know or understand, but you will see mostly normal characters that you can type at any keyboard.
• Binary file: Stores information in bytes that aren’t quite ...