Getting lines from files

Question

I am trying to get a to be the first line of the file and b to be the second.

This prints nothing.

f = open(filename)
line = f.readline().strip()
while line:
    a = f.readline()
    b = f.readline()
    line = f.readline()
print(a)
print(b)

I want to assign specific lines to variables, not just read all of them.

Possible duplicate of [How do I read a file line-by-line into a list?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3277503/how-do-i-read-a-file-line-by-line-into-a-list) — McGrady, Apr 01 '17 at 10:29
But you are also doing that with `readline`. Are you actually trying to iterate the whole file three lines at a time, or do you just want the first and second lines as you state in the question? — jonrsharpe, Apr 01 '17 at 10:50

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 01 '17 at 10:35

3

Check the tutorial first please, it says:

If you want to read all the lines of a file in a list you can also use list(f) or f.readlines().

lines = f.readlines()
a = lines[0]
b = lines[1]

answered Apr 01 '17 at 10:35

mdegis

2,078
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@James, please accept the answer if you found it useful. – Roshin Raphel Jul 10 '20 at 17:08

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '17 at 10:35

0

lines =[]
with open(filename) as f:
    i =0
    for line in f:
        lines[i] = line
        i += 1

print '1st Line is: ', lines[0]
print '2st Line is: ', lines[1]

answered Apr 01 '17 at 10:35

S.Doe

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10

Getting lines from files

2 Answers2