CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.x
user155876
user155876

Reputation: 361

Purpose of including 'r' in the open() function?

What is the difference between:

with open('PHANTOM_PAIN_SPOILERS.txt') as temp:
    print(temp.read())

...and:

with open('PHANTOM_PAIN_SPOILERS.txt','r') as temp:
    print(temp.read())

To my understanding, the second argument 'r' for the open() is essentially telling the system to read the file after opening it, which seems to me that it should make .read() redundant but if I attempt to print temp print(temp) in the second example, I end up with something similar to: <_io.TextIOWrapper name='PHANTOM_PAIN_SPOILERS.txt' mode='r' encoding='cp1252'>

So what was the point of specifying 'r' in the first place if it doesn't seem to do anything in these instances?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 15650

Answers (2)

pcarter
pcarter

Reputation: 1618

Opening and reading files are different operations.

A file is opened as a first step in reading from it or writing to it. By default, the open() call accesses the file in read mode. Specifying 'r' as the second argument is just explicitly doing the same thing. (Specifying 'w' opens the file in write mode.)

Once the file is open, it can be read in one big chunk (such as your code does), a line at a time, a byte at a time or more complex schemes using different read operations.

Upvotes: 3

Ami Tavory
Ami Tavory

Reputation: 76297

There are three different things here:

  1. the mode in which you open the file
  2. the operation you perform on the file
  3. implicit arguments sent via default parameters

Your statement:

To my understanding, the second argument 'r' for the open() is essentially telling the system to read the file after opening it

is not quite correct. The 'r' indicates that you wish to open the file in read mode; it does not read anything in itself. You can also read a file that is opened in other modes, incidentally.

The open function takes a mode string with a default value of 'r', so omitting this parameter yields the same thing.

Upvotes: 4

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