__builtin__.file

class __builtin__.file

file(name[, mode[, buffering]]) -> file object

Open a file. The mode can be ‘r’, ‘w’ or ‘a’ for reading (default), writing or appending. The file will be created if it doesn’t exist when opened for writing or appending; it will be truncated when opened for writing. Add a ‘b’ to the mode for binary files. Add a ‘+’ to the mode to allow simultaneous reading and writing. If the buffering argument is given, 0 means unbuffered, 1 means line buffered, and larger numbers specify the buffer size. The preferred way to open a file is with the builtin open() function. Add a ‘U’ to mode to open the file for input with universal newline support. Any line ending in the input file will be seen as a ‘n’ in Python. Also, a file so opened gains the attribute ‘newlines’; the value for this attribute is one of None (no newline read yet), ‘r’, ‘n’, ‘rn’ or a tuple containing all the newline types seen.

‘U’ cannot be combined with ‘w’ or ‘+’ mode.

__init__()

x.__init__(...) initializes x; see help(type(x)) for signature

Methods

close(...)	Sets data attribute .closed to True.
fileno(() -> integer “file descriptor”.)	This is needed for lower-level file interfaces, such os.read().
flush(...)
isatty(...)
read(([size]) -> read at most size bytes, ...)	If the size argument is negative or omitted, read until EOF is reached.
readinto(...)
readline(...)	Retain newline.
readlines(([size]) -> list of strings, ...)	Call readline() repeatedly and return a list of the lines so read.
seek((offset[, ...)	Argument offset is a byte count.
tell(() -> current file position, ...)
truncate(...)	Size defaults to the current file position, as returned by tell().
write((str) -> None.  Write string str to file.)	Note that due to buffering, flush() or close() may be needed before the file on disk reflects the data written.
writelines(...)	Note that newlines are not added.
xreadlines(() -> returns self.)	For backward compatibility.

Attributes

closed	True if the file is closed
encoding	file encoding
errors	Unicode error handler
mode	file mode (‘r’, ‘U’, ‘w’, ‘a’, possibly with ‘b’ or ‘+’ added)
name	file name
newlines	end-of-line convention used in this file
next	x.next() -> the next value, or raise StopIteration
softspace	flag indicating that a space needs to be printed; used by print

close() → None or (perhaps) an integer. Close the file.

Sets data attribute .closed to True. A closed file cannot be used for further I/O operations. close() may be called more than once without error. Some kinds of file objects (for example, opened by popen()) may return an exit status upon closing.

fileno() → integer "file descriptor".

This is needed for lower-level file interfaces, such os.read().

flush() → None. Flush the internal I/O buffer.

isatty() → true or false. True if the file is connected to a tty device.

read([size]) → read at most size bytes, returned as a string.

If the size argument is negative or omitted, read until EOF is reached. Notice that when in non-blocking mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size parameter was given.

readinto() → Undocumented. Don't use this; it may go away.

readline([size]) → next line from the file, as a string.

Retain newline. A non-negative size argument limits the maximum number of bytes to return (an incomplete line may be returned then). Return an empty string at EOF.

readlines([size]) → list of strings, each a line from the file.

Call readline() repeatedly and return a list of the lines so read. The optional size argument, if given, is an approximate bound on the total number of bytes in the lines returned.

seek(offset[, whence]) → None. Move to new file position.

Argument offset is a byte count. Optional argument whence defaults to 0 (offset from start of file, offset should be >= 0); other values are 1 (move relative to current position, positive or negative), and 2 (move relative to end of file, usually negative, although many platforms allow seeking beyond the end of a file). If the file is opened in text mode, only offsets returned by tell() are legal. Use of other offsets causes undefined behavior. Note that not all file objects are seekable.

tell() → current file position, an integer (may be a long integer).

truncate([size]) → None. Truncate the file to at most size bytes.

Size defaults to the current file position, as returned by tell().

write(str) → None. Write string str to file.

Note that due to buffering, flush() or close() may be needed before the file on disk reflects the data written.

writelines(sequence_of_strings) → None. Write the strings to the file.

Note that newlines are not added. The sequence can be any iterable object producing strings. This is equivalent to calling write() for each string.

xreadlines() → returns self.

For backward compatibility. File objects now include the performance optimizations previously implemented in the xreadlines module.

closed

True if the file is closed

encoding

file encoding

errors

Unicode error handler

mode

file mode (‘r’, ‘U’, ‘w’, ‘a’, possibly with ‘b’ or ‘+’ added)

name

file name

newlines

end-of-line convention used in this file

next

x.next() -> the next value, or raise StopIteration

softspace

flag indicating that a space needs to be printed; used by print