How do I write a long string of words to a text file?

Question

Is there a way to write a long string of words to a text file in python3 so that the string can be written over several lines? This is what I have tried so far.

Here is what I am trying to do

    from nltk.tokenize import word_tokenize

    my_list = word_tokenize(my_text) 
    my_list_string = ' '.join(my_list)

    outfile = open("my_comp.txt", "a") 
    outfile.write(my_list_string ) 
    outfile.close()

I think this is what you are looking for http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10660435/pythonic-way-to-create-a-long-multi-line-string — karina, Apr 23 '16 at 05:04
What do you mean by "string can be written over several lines"? — EbraHim, Apr 23 '16 at 05:10
@karina Thanks, but I am not sure it works. I am getting some data from the web which I tokenize into words and which I would like to save in a text file by writing to it. So I need to split the string up so the text file is readable. — Shubha Rajopadhye, Apr 23 '16 at 05:11
I think you need to show example input, output, and the code you have tried — karina, Apr 23 '16 at 05:12
You can split the string on every `.` character and store the result to a list. And then write those elements of your list in your file. Right? — EbraHim, Apr 23 '16 at 05:32
@EbraHim, I am not sure how I would do that, since my string is of variable length — Shubha Rajopadhye, Apr 23 '16 at 05:50

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 23 '16 at 05:58

There is a library for that in Python named textwrap:

>>> import textwrap
>>> strs = "Is there a way to write a long string of words to a text file in python3 so that the string can be written over several lines? This is what I have tried so far. Is there a way to write a long string of words to a text file in python3 so that the string can be written over several lines? This is what I have tried so far. "

Works as below:

>>> print (textwrap.fill(strs, 20))
Is there a way to
write a long string
of words to a text
file in python3 so
that the string can
be written over
several lines? This
is what I have tried
so far. Is there a
way to write a long
string of words to a
text file in python3
so that the string
can be written over
several lines? This
is what I have tried
so far.

Or change the line length:

>>> print (textwrap.fill(strs, 40))
Is there a way to write a long string of
words to a text file in python3 so that
the string can be written over several
lines? This is what I have tried so far.
Is there a way to write a long string of
words to a text file in python3 so that
the string can be written over several
lines? This is what I have tried so far.
>>>

Thank you! this works perfectly! Is there a similar command for a string of numbers? It does not seem to work even after converting the numbers to string. — Shubha Rajopadhye, Apr 24 '16 at 14:36

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 23 '16 at 05:27

0

After seeing your code I'm not sure there is any other way then to insert a new line every nth token

But who knows how big n should be...

You should probably just leave it up to the program that is opening the file?

answered Apr 23 '16 at 05:27

karina

805
5
10

the program just opens the file and writes it into one 'really long' line. Even when the string has about a 1000 words in it. – Shubha Rajopadhye Apr 23 '16 at 05:48
Yes. I understand. And that is how your editor deals with it. If you open it in an editor that supports line wrapping – karina Apr 23 '16 at 05:50
Otherwise I would maybe loop through the tokens and append a new line to every... I don't know... 20th token? – karina Apr 23 '16 at 05:51
Thanks, that is definitely worth a try! – Shubha Rajopadhye Apr 23 '16 at 05:56

How do I write a long string of words to a text file?

2 Answers2