Check if a text file is empty in Python

Question

I'm writing a program that uses exceptions to handle errors from multiple text files, one of which being empty. If it's empty, I need to print out a statement saying said file is empty. I have tried 'except EOFError', but that's not correct.

Code:

 def main():
    process_file("good_data.txt")
    process_file("bad_data.txt")
    process_file("empty_file.txt")
    process_file("does_not_exist.txt")


def process_file(param_str_file_name):


    #Variables
    num_rec = 0
    total = 0
    average = 0

    try:
        file_name = open(param_str_file_name, 'r')

        print("Processing file", param_str_file_name)

        one_score = file_name.readline()

        while one_score != "":
            one_score_int = int(one_score)
            num_rec = num_rec + 1

            one_score = file_name.readline()

            total += one_score_int
            average = total / num_rec

        file_name.close()

        print("\tRecord count = ", num_rec)
        print("\tTotal        = ", total)
        print("\tAverage      = ", f"{average:.2f}", "\n")

    except EOFError:
        print("\tError!", param_str_file_name,
              " is empty. Cannot calculate average\n")

    except FileNotFoundError:
        print("\tError!", param_str_file_name, " File not found\n")

    except ValueError:
        print("\tError!", param_str_file_name, "contains non-numeric data\n")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Output:

Processing file good_data.txt
    Record count =  6
    Total        =  281
    Average      =  46.83 

Processing file bad_data.txt
    Error! bad_data.txt contains non-numeric data

Processing file empty_file.txt
    Record count =  0
    Total        =  0
    Average      =  0.00 

    Error! does_not_exist.txt  File not found

It's just this one little thing to wrap up. Thanks for the help.

The problem with your logic is that you don't throw an EndOfFile error, you just skip the file — itprorh66, Dec 04 '20 at 22:38
Does this answer your question? [How can I check file size in Python?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2104080/how-can-i-check-file-size-in-python) — zvone, Dec 04 '20 at 22:39
Since the readline doesn't throw end of line error it just returns a null string. Take a look at the following for a possible answer [How to while loop until the end of a file in Python without checking for empty line?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29022377/how-to-while-loop-until-the-end-of-a-file-in-python-without-checking-for-empty-l/29022395) — itprorh66, Dec 04 '20 at 22:42

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 04 '20 at 22:50

0

Here is a simple way to check if file is empty or not:

import os

size = os.path.getsize('file.txt')

if size > 0:
    print ("The file is not empty")
else:
    print ("The file is empty")

answered Dec 04 '20 at 22:50

WMRamadan

974
1
11
25

Check if a text file is empty in Python

1 Answers1