Python in a Nutshell

Name

input

Synopsis

input(files=None,inplace=0,backup='',bufsize=0)

Returns the sequence of lines in the files, suitable for use in a for loop. files is a sequence of filenames to open and read one after the other, in order. Filename '-' means standard input (sys.stdin). If files is a string, it’s a single filename to open and read. If files is None, input uses sys.argv[1:] as the list of filenames If the sequence of filenames is empty, input reads sys.stdin.

The sequence object that input returns is an instance of class FileInput; that instance is also the global state of module input, so all other functions of module fileinput operate on the same shared state. Each function of module fileinput corresponds directly to a method of class FileInput.

When inplace is false (the default), input just reads the files. When inplace is true, however, input moves each file being read (except standard input) to a backup file, and redirects standard output (sys.stdout) to write to the file being read. This operation lets you simulate overwriting files in-place. If backup is a string starting with a dot, input uses backup as the extension of the backup files and does not remove the backup files. If backup is an empty string (the default), input uses extension .bak, and deletes each backup file when the file is closed.

bufsize is the size of the internal buffer that input uses to read lines from the input files. If bufsize is 0, input uses a buffer of 8192 bytes.