Python Programming with Raspberry Pi

Read n bytes

The seek function enables moving the pointer to a specific position and reading a byte or n bytes from that position. Let's re-visit reading write_file.txt and try to read the word excited in the sentence I am excited to learn Python using Raspberry Pi Zero.

if __name__ == "__main__":    # open text file to read and write    file = open('write_file.txt', 'r')    # set the pointer to the desired position    file.seek(5)    data = file.read(1)    print(data)    # rewind the pointer   file.seek(5)    data = file.read(7)    print(data)    file.close()

The preceding code can be explained in the following steps:

1. In the first step, the file is opened using the read flag and the file pointer is set to the fifth byte (using seek)—the position of the letter ...