How to delete each and every element inside a specific text file using python?

Question

I've been programming for nearly 2 years, but I have 5 months python experience. I'm working on an app in tkinter, and I am at the point where I want to delete every singular element inside a .txt file if a button is pressed.

I tried this:

with open("path/to/file", "r+") as file:
    lines = file.readlines()
    file.seek(0)
    for i in lines:
        if i.strip() != "specific_element":
            file.write(str("specific_element"))
    
        i.truncate()

in my other project, but the only problem here is you have to specify the element you'd like to remove, which is in my case, irrelevant. I want all elements to be removed from a txt file.

Do you mean you want to replace the file with an empty file? — slothrop
– slothrop, Commented Jan 20, 2024 at 9:48
Apart from moving the truncate outside of the for loop (for efficiency) I don't see any problem — jackal
– jackal, Commented Jan 20, 2024 at 10:10

jackal · Accepted Answer · 2024-01-20 10:26:30Z

1

If you open a file in mode "w", a new, empty, file will be created (subject to any permissions issues). You can then immediately close the file to leave it as empty.

So, as others have said:

with open("foo.txt", "w"):
    pass

...is all you need.

However, the implication of your question is that you want to remove everything from an existing file. The technique above will create a file if it didn't exist.

If you want to empty an existing file then:

import os

os.truncate("foo.txt", 0)

For this to work, the file must already exist. If it doesn't, you'll get a FileNotFoundError exception

answered Jan 20, 2024 at 10:26

jackal

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Comments

Satyajeet Sahu · Accepted Answer · 2024-01-20 09:59:55Z

0

Try this out:

with open("test.txt", "w") as file:
    file.write("")

Hope it helps!!!

answered Jan 20, 2024 at 9:59

Satyajeet Sahu

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4 Comments

Eidnoxon Over a year ago

Chatgpt wrote the same thing but I never thought it would actually work... Lemme try

jackal Over a year ago

Why the call to file.write() ?

Satyajeet Sahu Over a year ago

Calling file.write("") to write empty string into the file. Which is to delete everything inside it.

jackal Over a year ago

@SatyajeetSahu The write call is unnecessary and irrelevant

Eidnoxon · Accepted Answer · 2024-01-20 10:10:17Z

0

Nevermind guys, I found the answer. If you are browsing for the answer as well, here it is:

with open("testFile.txt", "r+") as file:
    file.seek(0)
    file.truncate()

answered Jan 20, 2024 at 10:10

Eidnoxon

236 bronze badges

1 Comment

jackal Over a year ago

Can you explain why you had the comparisons in your original question? It looked as though you wanted to retain some content

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