Basic file operation questions

[Jeff Shannon]

Caleb Hattingh wrote:

> Peter
> 
>> Yes, you can even write
>>
>> f = open("data.txt")
>> for line in f:
>>     # do stuff with line
>> f.close()
>>
>> This has the additional benefit of not slurping in the entire file at  
>> once.
> 
> Is there disk access on every iteration?   I'm guessing yes?  It 
> shouldn't  be an issue in the vast majority of cases, but I'm naturally 
> curious :)

Disk access should be buffered, possibly both at the C-runtime level 
and at the file-iterator level (though I couldn't swear to that).  I'm 
sure that the C-level buffering happens, though.

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International