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os.write() appends file instead of overwriting, but O_APPEND isn't used [duplicate]

I have the following code:
import re
#open the xml file for reading:
file = open('path/test.xml','r+')
#convert to string:
data = file.read()
file.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>",data))
file.close()
where I'd like to replace the old content that's in the file with the new content. However, when I execute my code, the file "test.xml" is appended, i.e. I have the old content follwed by the new "replaced" content. What can I do in order to delete the old stuff and only keep the new?

You need seek to the beginning of the file before writing and then use file.truncate() if you want to do inplace replace:
import re
myfile = "path/test.xml"
with open(myfile, "r+") as f:
data = f.read()
f.seek(0)
f.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>", r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", data))
f.truncate()
The other way is to read the file then open it again with open(myfile, 'w'):
with open(myfile, "r") as f:
data = f.read()
with open(myfile, "w") as f:
f.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>", r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", data))
Neither truncate nor open(..., 'w') will change the inode number of the file (I tested twice, once with Ubuntu 12.04 NFS and once with ext4).
By the way, this is not really related to Python. The interpreter calls the corresponding low level API. The method truncate() works the same in the C programming language: See http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/truncate.2.html

file='path/test.xml'
with open(file, 'w') as filetowrite:
filetowrite.write('new content')
Open the file in 'w' mode, you will be able to replace its current text save the file with new contents.

Using truncate(), the solution could be
import re
#open the xml file for reading:
with open('path/test.xml','r+') as f:
#convert to string:
data = f.read()
f.seek(0)
f.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>",data))
f.truncate()

import os#must import this library
if os.path.exists('TwitterDB.csv'):
os.remove('TwitterDB.csv') #this deletes the file
else:
print("The file does not exist")#add this to prevent errors
I had a similar problem, and instead of overwriting my existing file using the different 'modes', I just deleted the file before using it again, so that it would be as if I was appending to a new file on each run of my code.

See from How to Replace String in File works in a simple way and is an answer that works with replace
fin = open("data.txt", "rt")
fout = open("out.txt", "wt")
for line in fin:
fout.write(line.replace('pyton', 'python'))
fin.close()
fout.close()

in my case the following code did the trick
with open("output.json", "w+") as outfile: #using w+ mode to create file if it not exists. and overwrite the existing content
json.dump(result_plot, outfile)

Using python3 pathlib library:
import re
from pathlib import Path
import shutil
shutil.copy2("/tmp/test.xml", "/tmp/test.xml.bak") # create backup
filepath = Path("/tmp/test.xml")
content = filepath.read_text()
filepath.write_text(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", content))
Similar method using different approach to backups:
from pathlib import Path
filepath = Path("/tmp/test.xml")
filepath.rename(filepath.with_suffix('.bak')) # different approach to backups
content = filepath.read_text()
filepath.write_text(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", content))

open or create file in python and append to it

how do you do this series of actions in python?
1) Create a file if it does not exist and insert a string
2) If the file exists, search if it contains a string
3) If the string does not exist, hang it at the end of the file
I'm currently doing it this way but I'm missing a step
EDIT
with this code every time i call the function seems that the file does not exist and overwrite the older file
def func():
if not os.path.exists(path):
#always take this branch
with open(path, "w") as myfile:
myfile.write(string)
myfile.flush()
myfile.close()
else:
with open(path) as f:
if string in f.read():
print("string found")
else:
with open(path, "a") as f1:
f1.write(string)
f1.flush()
f1.close()
f.close()

Try this:
with open(path, 'a+') as file:
file.seek(0)
content = file.read()
if string not in content:
file.write(string)
seek will move your pointer to the start, and write will move it back to the end.
Edit:
Also, you don't need to check the path.
Example:
>>> f = open('example', 'a+')
>>> f.write('a')
1
>>> f.seek(0)
0
>>> f.read()
'a'
file example didn't exist, but when I called open() it was created. see why

You don't need to reopen the file if you have not yet closed it after initially opening it. Use "a" when opening the file in order to append to it. So... "else: with open(path, "a") as f: f.write(string)". Try that

How to make a program that replaces newlines in python file with a string [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Why doesn't calling a string method (such as .replace or .strip) modify (mutate) the string?
(3 answers)
Closed 3 years ago.
I am trying to display my python file in html and therefore I would like to replace every time the file jumps to a newline with < br> but the program I've written is not working.
I've looked on here and tried changing the code around a bit I have gotten different results but not the ones I need.
with open(path, "r+") as file:
contents = file.read()
contents.replace("\n", "<br>")
print(contents)
file.close()
I want to have the file display < br> every time I have a new line but instead the code dosen't change anything to the file.

Here is an example program that works:
path = "example"
contents = ""
with open(path, "r") as file:
contents = file.read()
new_contents = contents.replace("\n", "<br>")
with open(path, "w") as file:
file.write(new_contents)
Your program doesn't work because the replace method does not modify the original string; it returns a new string.
Also, you need to write the new string to the file; python won't do it automatically.
Hope this helps :)
P.S. a with statement automatically closes the file stream.

Your code reads from the file, saves the contents to a variable and replaces the newlines. But the result is not saved anywhere. And to write the result into a file you must open the file for writing.
with open(path, "r+") as file:
contents = file.read()
contents = contents.replace("\n", "<br>")
with open(path, "w+") as file:
contents = file.write(contents)

there are some issues in this code snippet.
contents.replace("\n", "<br>") will return a new object which replaced \n with <br>, so you can use html_contents = contents.replace("\n", "<br>") and print(html_contents)
when you use with the file descriptor will close after leave the indented block.

Try this:
import re
with open(path, "r") as f:
contents = f.read()
contents = re.sub("\n", "<br>", contents)
print(contents)

Borrowed from this post:
import tempfile
def modify_file(filename):
#Create temporary file read/write
t = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode="r+")
#Open input file read-only
i = open(filename, 'r')
#Copy input file to temporary file, modifying as we go
for line in i:
t.write(line.rstrip()+"\n")
i.close() #Close input file
t.seek(0) #Rewind temporary file to beginning
o = open(filename, "w") #Reopen input file writable
#Overwriting original file with temporary file contents
for line in t:
o.write(line)
t.close() #Close temporary file, will cause it to be deleted

Unable to find string in text file

I am trying to simple find if a string exists in a text file, but I am having issues. I am assuming its something on the incorrect line, but I am boggled.
def extract(mPath, frequency):
if not os.path.exists('history.db'):
f = open("history.db", "w+")
f.close()
for cFile in fileList:
with open('history.db', "a+") as f:
if cFile in f.read():
print("File found - skip")
else:
#with ZipFile(cFile, 'r') as zip_ref:
#zip_ref.extractall(mPath)
print("File Not Found")
f.writelines(cFile + "\n")
print(cFile)
Output:
File Not Found
C:\Users\jefhill\Desktop\Python Stuff\Projects\autoExtract\Test1.zip
File Not Found
C:\Users\jefhill\Desktop\Python Stuff\Projects\autoExtract\test2.zip
Text within the history.db file:
C:\Users\jefhill\Desktop\Python Stuff\Projects\autoExtract\Test1.zip
C:\Users\jefhill\Desktop\Python Stuff\Projects\autoExtract\test2.zip
What am I missing? Thanks in advance
Note: cFile is the file path shown in the output and fileList is the list of both the paths from the output.

You're using the wrong flags for what you want to do. open(file, 'a') opens a file for append-writing, meaning that it seeks to the end of the file. Adding the + modifier means that you can also read from the file, but you're doing so from the end of the file; so read() returns nothing, because there's nothing beyond the end of the file.
You can use r+ to read from the start of the file while having the option of writing to it. But keep in mind that anytime you write you'll be writing to the reader's current position in the file.

I haven't tested the code but this should put you on the right track!
def extract(mPath, frequency):
if not os.path.exists('history.db'):
f = open("history.db", "w+")
f.close()
with open('history.db', "rb") as f:
data = f.readlines()
for line in data:
if line.rstrip() in fileList: #assuming fileList is a list of strings
#do everything else here

Python can't overwrite file

I am reading from a file, adding a line to it and then saving it back.
In C# this would work - But not in Python. Can anyone tell me why?
f = "blogs/%s.comment" % blogtitle
if os.path.isfile(f):
temp = file(f).readlines()
temp.append(comment)
overr = open(f, "w") #line 13
for l in temp: overr.write(l)
The error I get is IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied at line 13
I am running this file as a .wsgi in Apache and have 775 permissions in the folder where the file is stored.

You forgot to close the file after you had opened it the first time, do it as follows:
f = "blogs/%s.comment" % blogtitle
if os.path.isfile(f):
with open(f, 'r') as fl:
temp = fl.readlines()
temp.append(comment)
with open(f, "w") as fl:
for l in temp: fl.write(l)

You didn't close the file. You should open the file in a with statement to handle closing. Also, it's simpler and more efficient to just open the file in append mode instead of reading the whole thing and writing it back:
path = "blogs/%s.comment" % blogtitle
with open(path, 'a') as f:
f.write(comment)