COL100: Introduction to Computer Science

Lab 13: Object-Oriented Programming

April 15, 2025

1 Introduction
File handling is an essential part of programming that allows you to create, read, write,
and manage files. Python provides built-in functions and libraries to perform file op-
erations efficiently. In this tutorial, we will explore the importance of file handling, its
different methods, and how to work with various file types such as text files (.txt) and
CSV files (.csv).

1.1 Importance of File Handling in Python

Files are used to store data, and file handling makes it possible to:

1. Persist Data: Store data permanently for later use.

2. Exchange Information: Allow for the transfer of data between systems or users.

3. Automate Tasks: Process files programmatically without manual intervention.

4. Analyze Large Datasets: Work with files containing large amounts of data, such
as CSV files.

1.2 File Operations in Python

Python provides the open() function to handle file operations. The file can be opened
in various modes:

• ‘r‘ (Read Mode): Opens a file for reading.

• ‘w‘ (Write Mode): Opens a file for writing (overwriting if the file exists).

• ‘a‘ (Append Mode): Opens a file for writing but appends to the file if it exists.

• ‘r+‘ (Read and Write Mode): Opens a file for both reading and writing.

• Binary Modes (‘b‘): Used for non-text files (e.g., images).

 1.3 File Handling with Text Files (.txt)
1.3.1 Writing to a Text File

1 # Open a file in write mode

2 file = open ( " example . txt " , " w " )
3

4 # Write content to the file

5 file . write ( " Hello , World !\ nThis is a text file . " )
6

7 # Close the file

8 file . close ()
9

10 print ( " File written successfully ! " )

Listing 1: Writing to a text file

1.3.2 Appending Data to a Text File

1 # Open the file in append mode

2 file = open ( " example . txt " , " a " )
3

4 # Append content to the file

5 file . write ( " \ nAppending new content here . " )
6

7 # Close the file

8 file . close ()
9

10 print ( " Content appended successfully ! " )

Listing 2: Appending to a text file

1.3.3 Reading from a Text File

1 # Open the file in read mode

2 file = open ( " example . txt " , " r " )
3

4 # Read the entire content

5 content = file . read ()
6

7 # Print the content

8 print ( content )

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 9

10 # Close the file

11 file . close ()
Listing 3: Reading the entire content of a text file

1.3.4 Reading Line by Line

1 # Open the file

2 with open ( " example . txt " , " r " ) as file :
3 for line in file :
4 print ( line . strip () ) # Removes trailing newline
characters
Listing 4: Reading a text file line by line

1.4 File Handling with CSV Files

CSV (Comma-Separated Values) files are widely used to store tabular data. Python
provides the csv module for working with these files.

1.4.1 Writing to a CSV File

1 import csv
2

3 # Open a file in write mode

4 with open ( " data . csv " , " w " , newline = " " ) as csvfile :
5 writer = csv . writer ( csvfile )
6

7 # Writing the header row

8 writer . writerow ([ " Name " , " Age " , " City " ])
9

10 # Writing data rows

11 writer . writerow ([ " Alice " , 25 , " New York " ])
12 writer . writerow ([ " Bob " , 30 , " Los Angeles " ])
13

14 print ( " CSV file written successfully ! " )

Listing 5: Writing to a CSV file

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 1.4.2 Reading a CSV File

1 import csv
2

3 # Open the CSV file in read mode

4 with open ( " data . csv " , " r " ) as csvfile :
5 reader = csv . reader ( csvfile )
6

7 # Print each row

8 for row in reader :
9 print ( row )
Listing 6: Reading from a CSV file

1.4.3 Working with CSV Files as Dictionaries

1 import csv
2

3 # Writing into CSV file as dictionaries

4 with open ( " data_dict . csv " , " w " , newline = " " ) as csvfile :
5 fieldnames = [ " Name " , " Age " , " City " ]
6 writer = csv . DictWriter ( csvfile , fieldnames = fieldnames )
7

8 # Writing the header

9 writer . writeheader ()
10

11 # Writing rows
12 writer . writerow ({ " Name " : " Alice " , " Age " : 25 , " City " : "
New York " })
13 writer . writerow ({ " Name " : " Bob " , " Age " : 30 , " City " : " Los
Angeles " })
14

15 # Reading CSV file as dictionaries

16 with open ( " data_dict . csv " , " r " ) as csvfile :
17 reader = csv . DictReader ( csvfile )
18

19 for row in reader :

20 print ( row )
Listing 7: Working with CSV files using DictWriter and DictReader

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1.5 Best Practices for File Handling
• Use Context Managers: Always use with open() to ensure files are closed
automatically after use.

• Handle Exceptions: Use try-except blocks to handle errors (e.g., file not found).

• Specify Correct File Paths: Ensure you use absolute or relative paths correctly.

• Choose the Right Mode: Use append mode (’a’) to add data without over-
writing and write mode (’w’) for creating new files.

• Test File Encoding: For non-English text, specify the encoding (e.g., open("file.txt",
"r", encoding="utf-8")).

1.6 Summary of Use Cases

• Text Files (.txt):

– Use for simple data storage, logs, or configuration files.

– Great for lightweight data that doesn’t require tabular formatting.

• CSV Files (.csv):

– Use for structured data like tables or datasets.

– Ideal for database exports, spreadsheet integrations, or handling large amounts
of tabular data.

1.7 Conclusion
By mastering file handling in Python, you can efficiently interact with data stored in
files, automate tasks, and handle large datasets. Use the examples above as a reference
for your projects!

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 2 Submission Problem
2.1 Analyse Data
A random generator is used to create data for a student and activity management system
(SAMS). This file is provided to you as a CSV file generated data.csv with the following
structure:
1 idi , name , birth_year , birth_month , birth_day , gender , registration_id ,
athletic_score , leadership_score , talent_score , gpa , class_assigned ,
selected_activity , grade_level , talent , olympiad_scores ,
subject_specialization , fitness_score , sports_category , subject ,
mentor_grade , mentor_class , judge

This data file will contain 5036 lines. The first line follows the header stated earlier, the
next 5000 representing users, and the last 35 teachers. Your task is to write a Python
program that reads this file, processes the data, and find class assigned where there
isn’t a teacher assigned or teacher who is a judge. You need to output this data into a
new file called errors.txt, in the following format:
1 Class [ mentor_class / mentor_grade ]: Error [ TEACHER / JUDGE ] not found .

Note:

• There are classes from 6 to 12 in the school.

• A judge needs to be selected amongst teachers from the same class. Errors should
be shown if no teacher within a class (say 9) has judge attribute as true.

• In the case where both errors are found, first print the teacher and then the judge.

• The order of class assigned should be ascending order. That is class assigned
should be 6A, 7B, 7C...

2.1.1 Sample Input

A file generated data.csv.

2.1.2 Sample Output

A file errors.csv with data like:
1 Class 9 C : Error TEACHER not found .
2 Class 10: Error JUDGE not found .

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