# Different methods to read from text files # sr 11/18/2013 # Python 3.x # Note: rb opens file in binary mode to avoid issues with Windows systems # where '\r\n' is used instead of '\n' as newline character(s). # A) Reading in Byte chunks reader_a = open("file.txt", "rb") chunks = [] data = reader_a.read(64) # reads first 64 bytes while data != "": chunks.append(data) data = reader_a.read(64) if data: chunks.append(data) print (len(chunks)) reader_a.close() # B) Reading whole file at once into a list of lines with open("file.txt", "rb") as reader_b: # recommended syntax, auto closes data = reader_b.readlines() # data is assigned a list of lines print (len(data)) # C) Reading whole file at once into a string with open("file.txt", "rb") as reader_c: data = reader_c.read() # data is assigned a list of lines print (len(data)) # D) Reading line by line into a list data = [] with open("file.txt", "rb") as reader_d: for line in reader_d: data.append(line) print (len(data))