Not writing to external file in Python

Question

points = str(points)
l = open("leaderboard.txt","a")
l.write(points)

I am attempting to write a value of 'points' to an external notepad file in python however the file comes out blank each time I run the program. 'points' previously was an integer value however I converted it to a string in order to store it in my file. Chances are I am missing something simple, but I cannot work it out, so any help would be much appreciated. Also, apologies for formatting errors, I am relatively new to this website.

Is it possible points was empty without you knowing. Can you print it after the str cast, just in case? — Olivier Melançon, May 19 '20 at 11:50
Also try adding `l.close()` at the end to force flushing, or use `with` (https://stackoverflow.com/a/19508772/13300960) — Luka Mesaric, May 19 '20 at 11:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 19 '20 at 11:51

1

Try printing points out to make sure it is not empty.

Then make sure you close the file with l.close()

answered May 19 '20 at 11:51

Sean Payne

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 19 '20 at 11:53

You are not closing the file. This is the main reason that it is not displaying. Use l.close() at the end of your code.
A better way is to use with expression so that file is closed automatically:

points = str(points)
with open('leaderboard.txt', 'a') as l:
    l.write(points)

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 19 '20 at 11:53

0

Because I/O operations are buffered in Python, you need to close the file to see the effect:

points = str(points)
l = open("leaderboard.txt","a")
l.write(points)
l.close()

answered May 19 '20 at 11:53

Luca Schimweg

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 19 '20 at 11:53

It is a best practice to use a context manager when using open(). Setting l = open() wasn't working for me either because it wasn't being closed. This will ensure the file is properly closed without having to worry about doing it manually:

points = [(1, 1), (2, 2)]

points = str(points)
with open("leaderboard.txt","a") as file:
    file.write(points)

Output (leaderboard.txt):

[(1, 1), (2, 2)]

Not writing to external file in Python

4 Answers4