CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
RAB
RAB

Reputation: 75

Issue when appending to file

I have the following code where i want to add some text to the already existing file.

with open("travellerList.txt", "a") as myfile:
    myfile.write(ReplyTraveller)
myfile.close()

But I am getting:

SyntaxError: invalid syntax

The error points to the n in the open command. Can someone help me understand where I am making mistake in the above snippet?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 119

Answers (2)

Martijn Pieters
Martijn Pieters

Reputation: 1122122

The with syntax was only fully enabled in Python 2.6.

You must be using Python 2.5 or earlier:

Python 2.5.5 (r255:77872, Nov 28 2010, 19:00:19) 
[GCC 4.4.5] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> with open("travellerList.txt", "a") as myfile:
<stdin>:1: Warning: 'with' will become a reserved keyword in Python 2.6
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    with open("travellerList.txt", "a") as myfile:
            ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Use from __future__ import with_statement in Python 2.5 to enable the syntax there:

>>> from __future__ import with_statement
>>> with open("travellerList.txt", "a") as myfile:
...     pass
...

From the with statement specification:

New in version 2.5.

[...]

Note: In Python 2.5, the with statement is only allowed when the with_statement feature has been enabled. It is always enabled in Python 2.6.

The point of using a file as a context manager is that it'll be closed automatically, so your myfile.close() call is redundant.

For Python 2.4 or earlier you are out of luck, I'm afraid. You'd have to use a try- finally statements instead:

myfile = None
try:
    myfile = open("travellerList.txt", "a")
    # Work with `myfile`
finally:
    if myfile is not None:
        myfile.close()

Upvotes: 4

Ryan Haining
Ryan Haining

Reputation: 36802

You need to get rid of myfile.close(). This works fine:

with open("travellerList.txt", "a") as myfile:
    myfile.write(ReplyTraveller)

the with block will automatically close myfile at the end of the block. When you try to close it yourself, it's actually already out of scope.

However, it seems you're using a python older than 2.6, where the with statement was added. Try upgrading python, or using from __future__ import with_statement at the top of your file if you can't upgrade.

One last thing, idk what ReplyTraveller is, but you're naming it like a class, it needs to be a string to write it to a file.

Upvotes: 0

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