accessing files

Author: bporter97

Files/File.txt

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+Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
+
+of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
+
+borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
+
+abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
+
+it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
+
+not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
+
+gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
+
+that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
+
+now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
+
+Now get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let
+
+her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
+
+come; make her laugh at that.

Files/files.py

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+import os # imports os module
+
+os.chdir(r'P:\Python Projects\Python-Notes\files') # set's the working directory for the python script:
+# Allows us to open File.txt without having to type the full file path in the open() method
+
+ofile = open("File.txt") # To enable users to gain access to a file, we need to instantiate a variable 
+# and assign it to the open() method, with the file name included in the parenthesis.
+# This doesn't read the file into the program, it more or less "imports" it and allows you to call it later
+# much like importing an additional python module
+
+for i in ofile: # Python navigates files through line. This for statement with i as the loop counter
+# iterates through every line in the .txt file and subsequently prints the contents;
+# think of it as one giant array, where i instead of being the position in an array is the line in the file
+    
+    print(i) # this algorithim allows a user to search through a file line by line using the .startswith() method
+    if i.startswith("Alas,") : # if a line starts with a defined set of characters, in this case: "Alas," , then the print function is called
+        print("Oh no!")
+
+# The print() function in python automatically adds a new line after it reads the line from a txt file 
+
+rfile = ofile.read() #reads a file into memory
+count = 0
+for i in ofile : 
+    count = count + 1
+
+print("there are ", count, " in this excerpt")