[Tutor] Why different behaviours?

[alan.gauld@bt.com]

> import string, sys
> f=open('d:/Dokument/Programprojekt/pythonworks/projects/H2/Lex
> icon.txt', 'r')
> for line in f.readline():

readline returns a string, line will therefore take the value 
of each char in the string.

> Also, what would be the way to read line after line until end 
> of file. How to detect end of file when reading a sequential 
> file this way?

If its a short-medium file use:

for line in f.readlines():  # note plural!

or for long files:

for line in f.xreadlines():  # x stops it all being read at once

Alternatively:

while 1:
   try:
      line = f.readline()
      print line
   except:
      break

There are other variations. For more words explaining 
whats going on try my tutor at:

http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/


look under the files topic...

Alan G