How to open two files together in Python?

Python is a popular programming language that is used extensively in the field of data analysis, machine learning, and scientific computing. When working on projects, it is common to work with multiple files simultaneously. In Python, there are different approaches to opening two or more files at once.

In this article, we will learn how to open two files together in Python. The fundamental Python features that enable users to interact with computer files are the file read and write operations. Python gives worked−in capabilities to perusing, composing, and controlling records in different organizations.

File reading is the method involved with opening a document and adding its items to memory. When we want to process or analyze data stored in a file, this is helpful. Python gives a few inherent capabilities to understand documents, including open(), read(), readline(), readlines(), from there, the sky is the limit. We are able to read files using these functions in a variety of modes, including "r" (read−only), "w" (write−only), "a" (append), and "x" (create).

Different Methods

Below are some of the common methods used in opening two files together in Python:

Method 1: Using 'with' statement

The first method used to open two or more files together is using the 'with' statement in Python which provides a cleaner way to open files. This statement ensures that the files are automatically closed after the program has finished using them. Below is the syntax for opening two files using the with statement:

Syntax

with open('file1.txt', 'r') as file1, open('file2.txt', 'r') as file2:
    # Code to manipulate file1 and file2

In the above syntax, we are opening two files 'file1.txt' and 'file2.txt' in read mode. The 'with' statement ensures that the files are closed once the block of code is executed. We can manipulate both files inside the block of code.

Example

Below example demonstrates how to open two files together using 'with' statement. The 'with' statement is used to open two files, myfile1.txt and myfile2.txt, in read mode in this example. We read the items in each record utilizing the read() strategy and store them in factors mydata1 and mydata2. At long last, we print the items in each record to the control center.

# Using the with statement to open two files at the same time
with open('myfile1.txt', 'r') as myfile1, open('myfile2.txt', 'r') as myfile2:
    # Reading the contents of the first file and storing it in a variable
    mydata1 = myfile1.read()
    # Reading the contents of the second file and storing it in a variable
    mydata2 = myfile2.read()

# Print the contents of the first file to the console
print(mydata1)
# Print the contents of the second file to the console
print(mydata2)

Output

Welcome to Tutorialspoint- This is file 1.
Simply Easy Learning. This is file 2.

Method 2: Using Loop through a list of file names

The second method used to open two or more files together is to create a list of file names and then loop through the list to open each file. Below is the syntax for this method:

Syntax

files = ['file1.txt', 'file2.txt']
file_objs = []
for file_name in files:
    file_objs.append(open(file_name, 'r'))

In the above syntax, we have used a looping process to open two or more files together.

Example

Below example demonstrates how to open two files together using looping. In this example, we are making a list of file names called file_names and then opening each file in read mode by looping through the list. Each file object is added to the list file_objs. The read() method is then used to read the contents of each file and store them in variables mydata1 and mydata2. Finally, we close each file using the close() method and print the contents to the console.

# Create a list of file names to open
file_names = ['myfile1.txt', 'myfile2.txt']
# Create an empty list to store file objects
file_objs = []

# Loop through the list of file names to open each file and append the file object to the file_objs list
for file_name in file_names:
    file_obj = open(file_name, 'r')
    file_objs.append(file_obj)

# Reading the contents of the first file and storing it in a variable
mydata1 = file_objs[0].read()
# Reading the contents of the second file and storing it in a variable
mydata2 = file_objs[1].read()

# Print the contents of the first file to the console
print(mydata1)
# Print the contents of the second file to the console
print(mydata2)

# Close each file object in the file_objs list
for file_obj in file_objs:
    file_obj.close()

Output

Welcome to Tutorialspoint- This is file 1.
Simply Easy Learning. This is file 2.

Method 3: Using Zip function

The third and last method used to open two or more files together is to use the Zip function in Python which allows us to combine two or more lists into a single iterable object. We can use the Zip function to open multiple files together. Below is the syntax for using the Zip function to open two files:

Syntax

myfile_names = ['myfile1.txt', ''myfile2.txt']
myfile_objs = [open(myfile_name, 'r') for myfile_name in myfile_names]

for myfile1, myfile2 in zip(myfile_objs[0], myfile_objs[1]):
    # Code to manipulate myfile1 and myfile2

In the above syntax, we are creating a list of file names ['myfile1.txt', 'myfile2.txt']. We then create a list of file objects myfile_objs using a list comprehension. We loop through the list of file names and open each file in read mode using the open() function. We append the file objects to the myfile_objs list.

Example

Below example demonstrates how to open two files together using Zip function

Using a list comprehension, we create a list of file names called file_names and a list of file objects called file_objs in this example. The file objects are then merged into a single iterable object using the Zip function.

A for loop is used to go through the iterable object, and on each iteration, the variables myfile1 and myfile2 will hold the contents of the first and second files, respectively. Using the readline() method, we store a single line of data from each file in the variables mydata1 and mydata2. At long last, we print the items in every variable to the control center and close each record utilizing the nearby() strategy.

# Create a list of file names to open
file_names = ['myfile1.txt', 'myfile2.txt']
# Create a list of file objects using a list comprehension
file_objs = [open(file_name, 'r') for file_name in file_names]

# Loop through the contents of both files at the same time using the zip function
for myfile1, myfile2 in zip(file_objs[0], file_objs[1]):
    # Reading a single line of data from the first file and storing it in a variable
    mydata1 = myfile1.readline()
    # Reading a single line of data from the second file and storing it in a variable
    mydata2 = myfile2.readline()

# Print the contents of the first file to the console
print(mydata1)
# Print the contents of the second file to the console
print(mydata2)

# Close each file object in the file_objs list
for file_obj in file_objs:
    file_obj.close()

Output

Welcome to Tutorialspoint- This is file 1.
Simply Easy Learning. This is file 2.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to open two files together in Python. We saw three methods including WITH statement, Loops, and using a ZIP function to open the files together.