csv iterator question

[Ethan Furman]

davidj411 wrote:

>When you save an open file to a variable, you can re-use that variable
>for membership checking.
>it does not seem to be that way with the csv.reader function, even
>when set to a variable name.
>
>what is the best way to store the open CSV file in memory or do i need
>to open the file each time?
>
>example of open method on file object:
>fhandle=open(filename).readelines()
>  
>
 >>> fhandle = open('c:/temp/08-02024.csv').readlines()
 >>> type(fhandle)
<type 'list'>
 >>> len(fhandle)
381

fhandle is a list containing the contents of the file, not a file handle 
-- that's why you can easily re-use it.

>example of csv.reader method:
>reader = csv.reader(open(csvfilename))
>  
>
Try this instead:
 >>>reader  = csv.reader(open('c:/temp/08-02024.csv'))
 >>> contents = [line for line in reader]
 >>> type(contents)
<type 'list'>
 >>> len(contents)
381

You still get a list that you can easily use, that has gone through the 
csv routines.

Hope this helps.
--
Ethan