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• Why when I read a text file python reads it as "<built-in method read of _io.TextIOWrapper object at 0x02954558>" and how do I stop this?

Asking for Help: Why when I read a text file python reads it as "<built-in method read of _io.TextIOWrapper object at 0x02954558>" and how do I stop this?

I am writing a program that uses text files to store user information like their name and password. I am using this information to check login info against the info they have provided. This never worked so I decided to do a simple open files program to find the problem.

   1 f = open('test.txt', 'r')
   2 a = f.read
   3 f.close
   4 print(a)

and when I ran it on Idle it printed: <built-in method read of _io.TextIOWrapper object at 0x02954558> Instead of what I had in my text file. Does anyone know why this is happening or how to stop it?

You have to actually call the read method as follows:

a = f.read()

The brackets are important because they tell Python to actually call the method, and this produces the content of the file to be assigned to a. If you don't have the brackets, all you are doing is obtaining the read method and assigning it to a. Thus, when you print a you see a piece of text describing the method (which is what <built-in method read of _io.TextIOWrapper object at 0x02954558> means) instead of the content of the file.

So the point to remember is this: referring to the method (like with f.read) just lets you obtain the method, but if you want to call the method, you have to add brackets. The following also works:

method = f.read
a = method()

Here, we split up the part where you get the method from the part where you call the method. There really are two different things going on. -- PaulBoddie 2011-12-17 18:41:14

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