File Handling in Python: Reading and Writing Data

File Handling in Python: Reading and Writing Data

Master file operations in Python including reading, writing, working with CSV and JSON files. Learn the context manager pattern for safe file handling in real-world applications.

Basic File Operations

Python's open() function provides access to file systems with various modes for reading and writing.

# File modes:
# 'r'  - Read (default)
# 'w'  - Write (overwrites existing file)
# 'a'  - Append (adds to end of file)
# 'x'  - Create (fails if file exists)
# 'b'  - Binary mode (combine with other modes: 'rb', 'wb')
# '+'  - Read and write ('r+', 'w+')

# Writing to a file
file = open('student_records.txt', 'w')
file.write('Student Roll No: 101\n')
file.write('Name: Arjun Kumar\n')
file.write('Marks: 92\n')
file.close()

# Reading from a file
file = open('student_records.txt', 'r')
content = file.read()
print(content)
file.close()

# Reading line by line
file = open('student_records.txt', 'r')
line1 = file.readline()  # Read first line
line2 = file.readline()  # Read second line
file.close()

# Reading all lines as a list
file = open('student_records.txt', 'r')
all_lines = file.readlines()
file.close() 

The Context Manager: Using 'with' Statement

The 'with' statement automatically handles file closing, even if errors occur. This is the Pythonic way.

# Using context manager (recommended)
with open('student_records.txt', 'r') as file: content = file.read() print(content)
# File is automatically closed after the 'with' block

# Reading line by line using context manager
with open('attendance.txt', 'r') as file: for line in file: print(line.strip())  # strip() removes newline characters

# Writing with context manager
with open('results.txt', 'w') as file: file.write('Test Results\n') file.write('Student: Priya Sharma\n') file.write('Score: 88/100\n')

# Appending to a file
with open('results.txt', 'a') as file: file.write('Status: Pass\n') 

Real-World Example: Processing School Attendance Records

Schools in India need to maintain and process attendance records efficiently.

# Create an attendance record file
attendance_data = '''Roll_No,Name,Days_Present,Days_Absent
101,Aditya Singh,85,15
102,Bhavna Sharma,82,18
103,Chirag Patel,90,10
104,Deepika Gupta,75,25
105,Eshan Kumar,88,12'''

with open('attendance.txt', 'w') as file: file.write(attendance_data)

# Read and process attendance records
with open('attendance.txt', 'r') as file: lines = file.readlines() # Skip header and process each record
total_present = 0
attendance_percentage = []

for line in lines[1:]: data = line.strip().split(',') roll_no, name, days_present, days_absent = data[0], data[1], int(data[2]), int(data[3]) total_days = days_present + days_absent percentage = (days_present / total_days) * 100 attendance_percentage.append((name, percentage)) total_present += days_present if percentage >= 75: status = 'Eligible for exams' else: status = 'NOT eligible for exams' print(f'{name}: {percentage:.1f}% - {status}')

# Write summary report
with open('attendance_report.txt', 'w') as file: file.write('ATTENDANCE SUMMARY REPORT\n') file.write('=' * 50 + '\n') for name, percentage in attendance_percentage: file.write(f'{name}: {percentage:.1f}%\n') 

Working with CSV Files

CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is a common format for storing tabular data.

import csv

# Writing CSV file
students = [ ['Roll_No', 'Name', 'Subject', 'Marks'], [101, 'Aditya', 'Math', 92], [101, 'Aditya', 'English', 88], [102, 'Bhavna', 'Math', 95], [102, 'Bhavna', 'English', 91]
]

with open('student_marks.csv', 'w', newline='') as file: writer = csv.writer(file) writer.writerows(students)

# Reading CSV file
with open('student_marks.csv', 'r') as file: reader = csv.reader(file) for row in reader: print(row)

# Using DictReader for easier access
with open('student_marks.csv', 'r') as file: reader = csv.DictReader(file) for row in reader: print(f"{row['Name']} scored {row['Marks']} in {row['Subject']}")

# Using DictWriter to write with column names
with open('results.csv', 'w', newline='') as file: fieldnames = ['Name', 'Subject', 'Marks', 'Grade'] writer = csv.DictWriter(file, fieldnames=fieldnames) writer.writeheader() writer.writerow({'Name': 'Arjun', 'Subject': 'Math', 'Marks': 92, 'Grade': 'A'}) writer.writerow({'Name': 'Priya', 'Subject': 'Science', 'Marks': 88, 'Grade': 'A'}) 

Working with JSON Files

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is widely used for structured data storage and APIs.

import json

# Writing JSON file
student_data = { 'students': [ { 'name': 'Aditya Kumar', 'roll_no': 101, 'marks': { 'math': 92, 'english': 88, 'science': 90 } }, { 'name': 'Priya Sharma', 'roll_no': 102, 'marks': { 'math': 95, 'english': 91, 'science': 93 } } ]
}

with open('students.json', 'w') as file: json.dump(student_data, file, indent=4)

# Reading JSON file
with open('students.json', 'r') as file: data = json.load(file) for student in data['students']: print(f"Name: {student['name']}") print(f"Roll No: {student['roll_no']}") print(f"Average: {sum(student['marks'].values()) / len(student['marks']):.2f}") print()

# Converting Python objects to JSON string
json_string = json.dumps(student_data, indent=2)
print(json_string)

# Converting JSON string to Python object
parsed_data = json.loads(json_string)
print(parsed_data['students'][0]['name']) 

Binary File Operations

Binary mode is used for non-text files like images, audio, and binary data.

# Reading a binary file (e.g., image)
with open('photo.jpg', 'rb') as file: binary_data = file.read(1024)  # Read first 1024 bytes print(len(binary_data))

# Copying a binary file
with open('original.jpg', 'rb') as source: with open('backup.jpg', 'wb') as destination: destination.write(source.read())

# Reading file in chunks (memory efficient)
with open('large_file.bin', 'rb') as file: while True: chunk = file.read(8192)  # Read 8KB at a time if not chunk: break # Process chunk print(f'Read {len(chunk)} bytes') 

File Operations Summary Table

Practice Problems

1. Create a program to write 10 student names and marks to a file, then read and display them.
2. Read a CSV file of student marks and calculate the average marks for each student.
3. Write a program to copy a text file and create a backup with the date in its name.
4. Create a JSON file containing school information and read it back to extract specific data.
5. Write a program that reads a large file in chunks and counts the total number of lines.

Key Takeaways

• Always use the 'with' statement for file operations to ensure files are properly closed
• Different file modes ('r', 'w', 'a', 'x', 'b') serve different purposes
• CSV files are ideal for tabular data and can be processed with the csv module
• JSON is perfect for structured data and is widely used in web applications
• Reading files in chunks is important for processing large files efficiently

From Concept to Reality: File Handling in Python: Reading and Writing Data

In the professional world, the difference between a good engineer and a great one often comes down to understanding fundamentals deeply. Anyone can copy code from Stack Overflow. But when that code breaks at 2 AM and your application is down — affecting millions of users — only someone who truly understands the underlying concepts can diagnose and fix the problem.

File Handling in Python: Reading and Writing Data is one of those fundamentals. Whether you end up working at Google, building your own startup, or applying CS to solve problems in agriculture, healthcare, or education, these concepts will be the foundation everything else is built on. Indian engineers are known globally for their strong fundamentals — this is why companies worldwide recruit from IITs, NITs, IIIT Hyderabad, and BITS Pilani. Let us make sure you have that same strong foundation.

Object-Oriented Programming: Modelling the Real World

OOP lets you model real-world entities as code "objects." Each object has properties (data) and methods (behaviour). Here is a practical example:

class BankAccount: """A simple bank account — like what SBI or HDFC uses internally""" def __init__(self, holder_name, initial_balance=0): self.holder = holder_name self.balance = initial_balance # Private in practice self.transactions = [] # History log def deposit(self, amount): if amount <= 0: raise ValueError("Deposit must be positive") self.balance += amount self.transactions.append(f"+₹{amount}") return self.balance def withdraw(self, amount): if amount > self.balance: raise ValueError("Insufficient funds!") self.balance -= amount self.transactions.append(f"-₹{amount}") return self.balance def statement(self): print(f"
--- Account Statement: {self.holder} ---") for t in self.transactions: print(f"  {t}") print(f"  Balance: ₹{self.balance}")

# Usage
acc = BankAccount("Rahul Sharma", 5000)
acc.deposit(15000) # Salary credited
acc.withdraw(2000) # UPI payment to Swiggy
acc.withdraw(500) # Metro card recharge
acc.statement()

This is encapsulation — bundling data and behaviour together. The user of BankAccount does not need to know HOW deposit works internally; they just call it. Inheritance lets you extend this: a SavingsAccount could inherit from BankAccount and add interest calculation. Polymorphism means different account types can respond to the same .withdraw() method differently (savings accounts might check minimum balance, current accounts might allow overdraft).

Real-World System Design: Swiggy's Architecture

When you order food on Swiggy, here is what happens behind the scenes in about 2 seconds: your location is geocoded (algorithms), nearby restaurants are queried from a spatial index (data structures), menu prices are pulled from a database (SQL), delivery time is estimated using ML models trained on historical data (AI), the order is placed in a distributed message queue (Kafka), a delivery partner is assigned using a matching algorithm (optimization), and real-time tracking begins using WebSocket connections (networking). EVERY concept in your CS curriculum is being used simultaneously to deliver your biryani.

How the Web Request Cycle Works

Every time you visit a website, a precise sequence of events occurs. Here is the flow:

 You (Browser) DNS Server Web Server | | | |---[1] bharath.ai --->| | | | | |<--[2] IP: 76.76.21.9| | | | | |---[3] GET /index.html ----------------->  | | | | | | [4] Server finds file, | | runs server code, | | prepares response | | | |<---[5] HTTP 200 OK + HTML + CSS + JS --- | | | | [6] Browser parses HTML | Loads CSS (styling) | Executes JS (interactivity) | Renders final page |

Step 1-2 is DNS resolution — converting a human-readable domain name to a machine-readable IP address. Step 3 is the HTTP request. Step 4 is server-side processing (this is where frameworks like Node.js, Django, or Flask operate). Step 5 is the HTTP response. Step 6 is client-side rendering (this is where React, Angular, or Vue operate).

In a real-world scenario, this cycle also involves CDNs (Content Delivery Networks), load balancers, caching layers, and potentially microservices. Indian companies like Jio use this exact architecture to serve 400+ million subscribers.

Production Engineering: File Handling in Python: Reading and Writing Data at Scale

Understanding file handling in python: reading and writing data at an academic level is necessary but not sufficient. Let us examine how these concepts manifest in production environments where failure has real consequences.

Consider India's UPI system processing 10+ billion transactions monthly. The architecture must guarantee: atomicity (a transfer either completes fully or not at all — no half-transfers), consistency (balances always add up correctly across all banks), isolation (concurrent transactions on the same account do not interfere), and durability (once confirmed, a transaction survives any failure). These are the ACID properties, and violating any one of them in a payment system would cause financial chaos for millions of people.

At scale, you also face the thundering herd problem: what happens when a million users check their exam results at the same time? (CBSE result day, anyone?) Without rate limiting, connection pooling, caching, and graceful degradation, the system crashes. Good engineering means designing for the worst case while optimising for the common case. Companies like NPCI (the organisation behind UPI) invest heavily in load testing — simulating peak traffic to identify bottlenecks before they affect real users.

Monitoring and observability become critical at scale. You need metrics (how many requests per second? what is the 99th percentile latency?), logs (what happened when something went wrong?), and traces (how did a single request flow through 15 different microservices?). Tools like Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, and Jaeger are standard in Indian tech companies. When Hotstar streams IPL to 50 million concurrent users, their engineering team watches these dashboards in real-time, ready to intervene if any metric goes anomalous.

The career implications are clear: engineers who understand both the theory (from chapters like this one) AND the practice (from building real systems) command the highest salaries and most interesting roles. India's top engineering talent earns ₹50-100+ LPA at companies like Google, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs, or builds their own startups. The foundation starts here.

Key Vocabulary

Here are important terms from this chapter that you should know:

💡 Interview-Style Problem

Here is a problem that frequently appears in technical interviews at companies like Google, Amazon, and Flipkart: "Design a URL shortener like bit.ly. How would you generate unique short codes? How would you handle millions of redirects per second? What database would you use and why? How would you track click analytics?"

Think about: hash functions for generating short codes, read-heavy workload (99% redirects, 1% creates) suggesting caching, database choice (Redis for cache, PostgreSQL for persistence), and horizontal scaling with consistent hashing. Try sketching the system architecture on paper before looking up solutions. The ability to think through system design problems is the single most valuable skill for senior engineering roles.

Where This Takes You

The knowledge you have gained about file handling in python: reading and writing data is directly applicable to: competitive programming (Codeforces, CodeChef — India has the 2nd largest competitive programming community globally), open-source contribution (India is the 2nd largest contributor on GitHub), placement preparation (these concepts form 60% of technical interview questions), and building real products (every startup needs engineers who understand these fundamentals).

India's tech ecosystem offers incredible opportunities. Freshers at top companies earn ₹15-50 LPA; experienced engineers at FAANG companies in India earn ₹50-1 Cr+. But more importantly, the problems being solved in India — digital payments for 1.4 billion people, healthcare AI for rural areas, agricultural tech for 150 million farmers — are some of the most impactful engineering challenges in the world. The fundamentals you are building will be the tools you use to tackle them.

Crafted for Class 7–9 • Python Mastery • Aligned with NEP 2020 & CBSE Curriculum