In this tutorial, we will be learning how to get a string from a file in Python. This is a common task in programming as it allows us to read and manipulate textual data from various sources like text files, log files, and other resources with textual content.

We will be using Python’s built-in functions to read and extract strings from the file.

Step 1: Create a Sample Text File

Create a text file with some contents. For this tutorial, we will be using a file named ‘sample.txt’ with the following content:

Save this file in the same directory as your Python script. This will make it easier for Python to locate and read the file.

Step 2: Open the File in Python

First, let’s open the file in Python using the open() function. The open() function takes two arguments: file name and mode. The mode can be ‘r’ for reading, ‘w’ for writing, ‘a’ for appending, or ‘x’ for creating a new file. In this tutorial, we will use the read mode (‘r’):

Step 3: Read the Contents of the File

Now that the file is open, we can read its contents using various functions available in Python:

1. read(): Reads the entire content of the file as a single string.
2. readline(): Reads one line at a time from the file. Each time it is called, it returns the next line in the file as a string.
3. readlines(): Reads all the lines in the file and returns them as a list of strings.

In this tutorial, we will use the read() function to get the entire content of the file:

Step 4: Close the File

After extracting the content from the file, it is a good practice to close the file to free up resources. To close a file in Python, use the close() function:

Step 5: Print the Content of the File

Finally, we can print the entire content of the file as a string:

Full Code

Output

Hello, this is the first line.
This is the second line.
Python is a great programming language.
We're learning how to get a string from a file.

Now we have successfully extracted a string from a file using Python. Make sure to try different reading options like readline() and readlines() to understand the various ways to read a string from a file.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we demonstrated how to get a string from a file in Python using built-in functions like open(), read(), and close(). These functions are very useful when working with files, as they provide a seamless and easy way to read and extract data from files in your Python projects.