Deleting a line from text file in python

Question

I want to delete a specific line in a text file in python. for example, say in my text file I have:

Ben Walsh - 768

James Cook - 659

Jamie Walsh - 4359

Owen Perkins - 699

Dylan Thomas - 1574

Adam Ward - 987

Allen Woodhouse - 599

I want to delete any line that contains the number 699. How do I do this?

I have tried using this to solve it,Deleting a specific line in a file (python) however, using Tkinter I am asking the user to enter the number of the person they want to delete. So the number decides what is deleted because there are other items on the line it does not delete it.

Just tried the above response however because there is other info in the line it doesn't work. — Ben Walsh, Apr 11 '18 at 21:58
See [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11968998/remove-lines-that-contain-certain-string) — pushkin, Apr 11 '18 at 22:00
Possible duplicate of [Remove lines that contain certain string](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11968998/remove-lines-that-contain-certain-string) — wp78de, Apr 11 '18 at 22:04
Possible duplicate of [Remove a single row from a csv without copying files](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49732826/remove-a-single-row-from-a-csv-without-copying-files) — zwer, Apr 11 '18 at 22:08
@pushkin That solution has worked now, however, how can I remove the old file that was used. — Ben Walsh, Apr 11 '18 at 22:16
@BenWalsh See [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6996603/how-to-delete-a-file-or-folder) — pushkin, Apr 11 '18 at 22:18

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 12 '18 at 01:58

3

First, open the file:

f = open("yourfile.txt","r")

Next, get all your lines from the file:

lines = f.readlines()

Now you can close the file:

f.close()

And reopen it in write mode:

f = open("yourfile.txt","w")

Then, write your lines back, except the line you want to delete.

for line in lines:
  if "699" not in line:
    f.write(line)

At the end, close the file again.

f.close()

edited Apr 12 '18 at 01:58

lefft

2,065
13
20

answered Apr 11 '18 at 22:09

Madhu Ancha

31
2

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '19 at 09:14

Very simple:

    with open(file, "r+") as f:
        d = f.readlines()
        posdel = num-1
        for i in range(0,len(d)):
            if i == posdel:
                del d[posdel]
    with open(file, "w") as textobj:
        for n in d:
            textobj.write(n)

Deleting a line from text file in python

2 Answers2