Python open() Function

The python open() function opens the file and returns a corresponding file object.

Signature

Parameters

file: It is a path like object giving the pathname of the file to be opened.

mode (optional): It specifies the mode in which the file is opened. If not provided, it defaults to 'r' which means open for reading in text mode.

buffering (optional): It is used to set buffering policy.

encoding (optional): It is a name of the encoding to encode or decode the file.

errors (optional): A string that specify how to handle encoding/decoding errors.

newline (optional): It controls how newlines mode works (available values: None, ' ', '\n', 'r', and '\r\n'

closefd (optional): It must be True (default) if given otherwise an exception will be raised.

opener (optional): a custom opener; must return an open file descriptor.

Return

It returns a file object which can used to read, write and modify file.

Python open() Function Example 1

The below example shows how to open a file in Python.

Output:

Since the mode is omitted, the file is opened in 'r' mode; opens for reading.

Python open() Function Example 2

The below example providing mode to open().

Output:

f = open("path_to_file", mode = 'r', encoding='utf-8')

Explanation: In the above example, we specify different modes('r', 'w', 'a') for opening a file.