Opening a File

To open a file in Python, you use the built-in open() function. This function takes two main parameters: the file path and the mode in which you want to open the file.

file = open('example.txt', 'r')

Modes for Opening a File

  • 'r': Read mode (default). Opens a file for reading.
  • 'w': Write mode. Opens a file for writing (and truncates the file to zero length).
  • 'a': Append mode. Opens a file for writing, appending to the end of the file if it exists.
  • 'b': Binary mode. Can be combined with other modes (e.g., 'rb' or 'wb' for reading or writing in binary).
  • '+': Update mode. Can be combined with other modes (e.g., 'r+', 'w+', or 'a+' for reading and writing).