Python Read File is much easier with python programming. You do want to use an external library or import, It handles natively by language. In this tutorial, you will learn how to open a text file and read the data (text) form file in python, which comes under the File Handling section.

How to Python Read File?
In order to open and read the file, you will need to use a python in the build method (function) Open
to get a file object. The file object has functions and attributes to collect data from the file and update etc.
Syntax:
Where file_obj is a variable to hold the file object. And Mode in the second argument is optional because the default value of ‘r’ will be assumed if it is omitted. Where ‘r ‘value stands for the reading mode.
#Opening file file_obj = open("filename", "mode") # Reading and printing text form file print(file_obj.read())
Modes
- ‘r’ – Read mode (Only read the file ) is a default in the open function. The stream is positioned at the beginning of the file.
- ‘w’ – Write mode (Edit and write new data into the file). The stream is positioned at the beginning of the file.
- ‘a’ – Appending mode (Add new data to the end of the file). The stream is positioned at the end of the file.
- ‘r+’ – Special read and write mode (Handle both operations – Read and Write ). The stream is positioned at the beginning of the file.
Examples:
Assume we have the “testFile.txt” file, located in the same folder as Python. The Text in the file is below.
testFile.txt
Hello world
This text from file.
Reading the file and print() all data in the console.
f = open("testFile.txt", "r") print(f.read())
Output: Hello world
This text from a file.
Read-Only Parts of the File
Reading and print() only limited data example,
You can also specify how many characters you want to return:
f = open("testFile.txt", "r") print(f.read(5))
Output: Hello
Read Lines Example
You can read one or two etc line by using the readline()
method:
f = open("testFile.txt", "r") print(f.readline())
Output: Hello world
#do follow this link, based on complete Read line tutorial: Python ReadLines Tutorial & Examples
Bonus: What is the Real-time example use of Open and Read the file in python
- The file where you have weather observation data and you want to open that with Python and then you want to Analysis data and select some information to show.
- A file with email and you a send some email automatically, so python needs to restring as an email to your email address.
Python File Handling Quiz
Quiz-summary
0 of 10 questions completed
Questions:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Information
Python File Handling to test your knowledge – ( Create, Open, Update, delete and more about in Python)
It’s for Beginners, Advanced and Experienced Programmers.
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading…
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:
Results
0 of 10 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)
Average score |
|
Your score |
|
Categories
- Not categorized 0%
Pos. | Name | Entered on | Points | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
Table is loading | ||||
No data available | ||||
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- Answered
- Review
-
Question 1 of 10
1. Question
Which of the following command is used to open a file “c:\textFile.txt” in read-mode only?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 2 of 10
2. Question
Which functions use to check if a file exists?
File name = “logo”Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 3 of 10
3. Question
How do you insert something on a new line in a file?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 4 of 10
4. Question
Appending to a file means adding extra data into the file.
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 5 of 10
5. Question
What is the last action that must be performed on a file?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 6 of 10
6. Question
What is the data type of data read from a file?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 7 of 10
7. Question
Can you create a file without using file modes in Python?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 8 of 10
8. Question
Reading from a file often involves using…
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 9 of 10
9. Question
Which of the following statements are true regarding the opening modes of a file?
Correct
Incorrect
-
Question 10 of 10
10. Question
Which of the following commands option right to read the entire contents of a file as a string using the file object
? Correct
Incorrect
Do comment if you have any doubts and suggestions for the article.
Note : This example (Project) is developed in PyCharm 2018.2 (Community Edition)
JRE: 1.8.0
JVM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by JetBrains s.r.o
macOS 10.13.6Python 3.7
All Examples of Python Read File are in Python 3, so it may change its different from python 2 or upgraded versions.

Degree in Computer Science and Engineer: App Developer and has multiple Programming languages experience. Enthusiasm for technology & like learning technical.