[Tutor] file read and write

[Alan Gauld]

"le dahut" <le.dahut at laposte.net> wrote 

>I noticed that it is possible to write this :
> """
> file('/tmp/myfile', 'w').write('Hello world\n')
> contnt = file('/tmp/sourcefile').read()
> """

Yes, it just creates temporary objects and relies on 
garbage collection to close/dispose of them.

> instead of :
> """
> fh = file('/tmp/myfile', 'w')
> fh.write('Hello world\n')
> fh.close()
> 
> fh = file('/tmp/sourcefile')
> contnt = fh.read()
> fh.close()
> """
> 
> is there a reason not to use the first example ?

Not really although its rather limited in what it can do 
for you. Also error handling will not be as robust since 
you can't check that the file was/was not created.
But if you just want a very short file it's fine and in 
fact you will often see examples of

s = open('foo.txt').read()

in code, it is quite common, more so than the 
write version.

-- 
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld