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You are here: Home / Python / Using Python to Read File Character by Character

Using Python to Read File Character by Character

May 16, 2022 Leave a Comment

To read a file character by character using Python, you can loop over each line in a file and then loop over each character in each line.

with open("example.txt","r") as f:
    for line in f:
        for char in line: 
            #do something here

When reading files, the ability to read files sequentially character by character can be very useful.

Reading text from a file is easy with the Python open() function. Then, once you have the file open, you can read it line by line, word by word, and even character by character with some extra logic.

To read a file character by character in Python, you can loop over each line in a file and then loop over each character in each line.

Below is a simple example showing you how to read a file character by character in Python.

with open("example.txt","r") as f:
    for line in f:
        for char in line: 
            #do something here

How to Read File Word by Word Using Python

If you want to read a file word by word using Python, we can take the example from above and make a few adjustments.

To read a file word by word in Python, you can loop over each line in a file and then get the words in each line by using the Python string split() function.

Below is an example showing how you can read a file word by word using Python.

with open("example.txt","r") as f:
    for line in f:
        for word in line.split(" "): 
            #do something here

Hopefully this article has been useful for you to learn how to read a file character by character in Python.

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