open read and close a file in 1 line of code

Question

Now I use:

pageHeadSectionFile = open(\'pagehead.section.htm\',\'r\')
output = pageHeadSectionFile.read()
pageHeadSectionFile.close()

But t

Answer 1

If you want that warm and fuzzy feeling just go with with.

For python 3.6 I ran these two programs under a fresh start of IDLE, giving runtimes of:

0.002000093460083008  Test A
0.0020003318786621094 Test B: with guaranteed close

So not much of a difference.

#--------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
# Desc: Test A for reading a text file line-by-line into a list
#--------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

import sys
import time

#                                  # MAINLINE
if __name__ == '__main__':
    print("OK, starting program...")

    inTextFile = '/Users/Mike/Desktop/garbage.txt'

#                                  # Test: A: no 'with;
    c=[]
    start_time = time.time()
    c = open(inTextFile).read().splitlines()
    print("--- %s seconds ---" % (time.time() - start_time))

    print("OK, program execution has ended.")
    sys.exit()                     # END MAINLINE

OUTPUT:

OK, starting program...
--- 0.002000093460083008 seconds ---
OK, program execution has ended.

#--------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
# Desc: Test B for reading a text file line-by-line into a list
#--------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

import sys
import time

#                                  # MAINLINE
if __name__ == '__main__':
    print("OK, starting program...")

    inTextFile = '/Users/Mike/Desktop/garbage.txt'

#                                  # Test: B: using 'with'
    c=[]
    start_time = time.time()
    with open(inTextFile) as D: c = D.read().splitlines()
    print("--- %s seconds ---" % (time.time() - start_time))

    print("OK, program execution has ended.")
    sys.exit()                     # END MAINLINE

OUTPUT:

OK, starting program...
--- 0.0020003318786621094 seconds ---
OK, program execution has ended.