Python: Choose random line from file, then delete that line

Question

I\'m new to Python (in that I learned it through a CodeAcademy course) and could use some help with figuring this out.

I have a file, \'TestingDeleteLines.txt\', tha

Answer 1

Maybe you could try generating 10 random numbers from 0 to 300 using

deleteLineNums = random.sample(xrange(len(lines)), 10)

and then delete from the lines array by making a copy with list comprehensions:

linesCopy = [line for idx, line in enumerate(lines) if idx not in deleteLineNums]
lines[:] = linesCopy

And then writing lines back to 'TestingDeleteLines.txt'.

To see why the copy code above works, this post might be helpful:

Remove items from a list while iterating

EDIT: To get the lines at the randomly generated indices, simply do:

actualLines = []
for n in deleteLineNums:
    actualLines.append(lines[n])

Then actualLines contians the actual line text of the randomly generated line indices.

EDIT: Or even better, use a list comrehension:

actualLines = [lines[n] for n in deleteLineNums]