Program to cipher text

Question

I need to write a program that reads a cipher text. I'm confused on how to import the needed text. Is this right? What if I have more than one cipher text to import?

def MultiAlphaCipher():
    import MyCipherText.txt

Possible duplicate of [Reading entire file in Python](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7409780/reading-entire-file-in-python) — Artjom B., Dec 10 '15 at 14:41
Your question is unclear. What do you want your program to do? What should MultiAlphaCipher() do? What exactly are you trying to import? Please edit your question. — soungalo, Dec 10 '15 at 14:43
def codeData(fileName): fileName = content content = open('IowaRosterXML.txt', 'r').read() return content — jdr93, Dec 10 '15 at 20:27

Chris Nguyen · Answer 1 · 2015-12-11T01:12:02.160

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If you are just reading the contents of a plain encrypted text file:

def read_file():
    f=file('MyFile.txt', 'r')  ## For files like ".txt"
    content = f.read()
    f.close()
    return content

file_stuff = read_file()  ## Will return the contents of "MyFile.txt" or whatever the filename is!

There are other conventions on reading a file like using "open" or "with", but that'll do untill you get better... Also, in my experience of cryptography, I suggest using a diffrrent read mode or possibly encoding.

f = file("MyFile.doc", "rb")  ## For files like ".pdf", ".rtf" or any file that uses font, color, etc

That will open the file in "read binary" mode which is helpful if you're encrypting/deceypting files outside plain ASCII. Then when writting to a file, you'll use mode "w" or "wb" to "write binary"

Hope that helps!

Additonal Tips: If that is your actual code:

Import is used to import modules/libraries (other programs)
Import any module at the beginning and outside of functions/iterations

edited Dec 11 '15 at 01:12

answered Dec 10 '15 at 14:46

Chris Nguyen

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def codeData(): f = file('IowaRoster.txt', 'r') content = f.read() f.close() – jdr93 Dec 10 '15 at 19:48
That's what I have so far. Not sure where I'm messing up. – jdr93 Dec 10 '15 at 19:48
def codeData(): f = open('IowaRosterXML.txt', 'r') content = f.read() f.close() return content – jdr93 Dec 10 '15 at 20:31
Okay, I edited my answer... It seems you want it inside a function... If so, you'll have to use "return" to get the contents back to the variable – Chris Nguyen Dec 11 '15 at 01:13

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 10 '15 at 14:47

0

Try something like:

with open("MyCipherText.txt") as f:
    cipher_text = f.read()

answered Dec 10 '15 at 14:47

Gillespie

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Program to cipher text

2 Answers2