Using a file returned from a function as an argument for another function in python

Question

I am trying to use a .txt file written by a function in another function which accepts an os.path-like object. My problem is when I feed the argument it shows me the error message

TypeError: expected str, bytes or os.PathLike object, not _io.TextIOWrapper

The following is the simple form of what I am trying to do.

def myfunction1(infile, outfile):
    with open(infile, 'r') as firstfile:
      #do stuff
    with open(outfile, 'w+') as  secondfile:
       secondfile.write(stuff)
    return(outfile) 

def myfucntion2(infile, outfile):
    infile=myfunction1(infile, outfile)
    with open(infile, 'r') as input:
        #do stuff
    with open (outfile, 'w+') as outfile2:
        outfile2.write(stuff)
    return(outfile)

Both functions do stuff fine on their own, it's just that I can't seem to feed 2nd function a value from the first.

I tried to fix the indentation but that is obviously speculative -- please review. Also I imagine you want to open(infile) not open('infile') in myfunction1`. — tripleee
– tripleee, Commented Jan 8, 2019 at 8:24
Also, 2ndfile? That's not a valid variable name. How does that run at all to give you that TypeError? — shmee
– shmee, Commented Jan 8, 2019 at 8:27
sorry about the typos, tried to write simple version quickly. original code was too long to post. — Ihsan Ahmed Zaheer
– Ihsan Ahmed Zaheer, Commented Jan 8, 2019 at 9:00

tripleee · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-06 07:36:17Z

1

Your function returns a file handle, not a string.

File handles have a name attribute, so you could fix it by using return (outfile.name) in myfunction1 if that's really what you mean; or you could use infile = myfunction1(infile, outfile).name in myfunction2 if that's more suitable for your scenario. Or, since what is returned is the result from open, just don't attempt to open it a second time -- just use the returned file handle directly.

input=myfunction1(infile, outfile)
#do stuff
with open (outfile, 'w+') as outfile2 ...

In summary: open wants a string containing a file name as its input, and returns a file handle. You can retrieve the string which represents the file name of an open file with open(thing).name.

edited May 6, 2019 at 7:36

answered Jan 8, 2019 at 8:22

tripleee

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1 Comment

Ihsan Ahmed Zaheer Over a year ago

thanks infile = myfunction1(infile, outfile).name solves the problem.

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