CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonfilefile-not-found
alifcsai
alifcsai

Reputation: 23

Should I close a file with file.close() when there is a FileNotFoundError exception?

I'm trying to open a file in python and print a message when the file doesn't exist. But I'm confused whether to close the file or not when the exception happens.

    try:
        file = open(sys.argv[1], "r")
        file.close() # should I do this?
    except OSError:
        print(f"{sys.argv[1]} file not found.")

Upvotes: 1

Views: 791

Answers (1)

ewokx
ewokx

Reputation: 2425

A simpler method of checking if a file exists:

import os

if not os.path.exists(sys.argv[1]):
    print(f"{sys.argv[1]} file not found.")

But to answer your question, the ```file.close()`` happens only when the file exists and you successfully open the file. Not when the exception occurs.

Edit: As pointed out by @ekhumoro, the above has a race condition (when other processes access that file). If no other process accesses that file, then the above code works.

Solution is as @ekhumoro pointed out is to use your original try/except method.

Upvotes: 1

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