Python - Strings as Files

While reading a file it is read as a dictionary with multiple elements. So, we can access each line of the file using the index of the element. In the below example we have a file which has multiple lines and they those lines become individual elements of the file.

with open ("Path\GodFather.txt", "r") as BigFile:
    data=BigFile.readlines()

# Print each line
	for i in range(len(data)):
    print "Line No- ",i 
    print data[i]

When we run the above program, we get the following output −

Line No-  0
Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. 

Line No-  1
His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone (Michael's sister) to Carlo Rizzi. 

Line No-  2
All of Michael's family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. 

Line No-  3
He approaches Don Corleone about it, but, much against the advice of the Don's lawyer Tom Hagen, the Don is morally against the use of drugs, and turns down the offer.

Line No-  4
This does not please Sollozzo, who has the Don shot down by some of his hit men. 

Line No-  5
The Don barely survives, which leads his son Michael to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo and tears the Corleone family apart.

File as a String

But the entire file content can be read as a single string by removing the new line character and using the read function as shown below. In the result there are no multiple lines.

with open("Path\GodFather.txt", 'r') as BigFile:
    data=BigFile.read().replace('\n', '')
	
# Verify the string type 
	print type(data)
	
# Print the file content
    print data

When we run the above program, we get the following output −

Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone (Michael's sister) to Carlo Rizzi. All of Michael's family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but, much against the advice of the Don's lawyer Tom Hagen, the Don is morally against the use of drugs, and turns down the offer.This does not please Sollozzo, who has the Don shot down by some of his hit men. The Don barely survives, which leads his son Michael to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo and tears the Corleone family apart.

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