File reading#

Python has several file reading methods:

  • read - reads the contents of file to string

  • readline - reads file line by line

  • readlines - reads file lines and creates a list from the lines

Let’s see how to read contents of files using the example of r1.txt:

!
service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year
service password-encryption
service sequence-numbers
!
no ip domain lookup
!
ip ssh version 2
!

read#

Method read reads the entire file to one string:

In [1]: f = open('r1.txt')

In [2]: f.read()
Out[2]: '!\nservice timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year\nservice timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year\nservice password-encryption\nservice sequence-numbers\n!\nno ip domain lookup\n!\nip ssh version 2\n!\n'

In [3]: f.read()
Out[3]: ''

When reading a file once again an empty line is displayed in line 3. This is because the whole file is read when read method is called. And after the file has been read the cursor stays at the end of file. The cursor position can be controlled by seek method.

readline#

File can be read line by line using readline method:

In [4]: f = open('r1.txt')

In [5]: f.readline()
Out[5]: '!\n'

In [6]: f.readline()
Out[6]: 'service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year\n'

But most often it is easier to walk through a file object in a loop without using read... methods:

In [7]: f = open('r1.txt')

In [8]: for line in f:
   ...:     print(line)
   ...:
!

service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year

service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year

service password-encryption

service sequence-numbers

!

no ip domain lookup

!

ip ssh version 2

!

readlines#

Another useful method is readlines. It reads file lines to the list:

In [9]: f = open('r1.txt')

In [10]: f.readlines()
Out[10]:
['!\n',
 'service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year\n',
 'service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year\n',
 'service password-encryption\n',
 'service sequence-numbers\n',
 '!\n',
 'no ip domain lookup\n',
 '!\n',
 'ip ssh version 2\n',
 '!\n']

If you want to get lines of a file but without a new line character at the end, you can use split method and specify symbol \n as a separator:

In [11]: f = open('r1.txt')

In [12]: f.read().split('\n')
Out[12]:
['!',
 'service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year',
 'service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year',
 'service password-encryption',
 'service sequence-numbers',
 '!',
 'no ip domain lookup',
 '!',
 'ip ssh version 2',
 '!',
 '']

Note that the last item in list is an empty string.

If you use split before rstrip, list will be without empty string at the end:

In [13]: f = open('r1.txt')

In [14]: f.read().rstrip().split('\n')
Out[14]:
['!',
 'service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year',
 'service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year',
 'service password-encryption',
 'service sequence-numbers',
 '!',
 'no ip domain lookup',
 '!',
 'ip ssh version 2',
 '!']

seek#

Until now, file had to be reopened to read it again. This is because after reading methods a cursor is at the end of the file. And second reading returns an empty string.

To read information from a file again you need to use the seek method which moves the cursor to the desired position.

Example of file opening and content reading:

In [15]: f = open('r1.txt')

In [16]: print(f.read())
!
service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year
service password-encryption
service sequence-numbers
!
no ip domain lookup
!
ip ssh version 2
!

If you call read method again an empty string returns:

In [17]: print(f.read())

But with seek method you can go to the beginning of file (0 means the beginning of file):

In [18]: f.seek(0)

Once cursor has been set to the beginning of file you can read the content again:

In [19]: print(f.read())
!
service timestamps debug datetime msec localtime show-timezone year
service timestamps log datetime msec localtime show-timezone year
service password-encryption
service sequence-numbers
!
no ip domain lookup
!
ip ssh version 2
!