Making File Path as a Variable in Python

Question

I am very new to Python and I am trying to get a bit of code to concatenate text files into one!

I have the following code:

Checkpoint = open("/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_Checkpoint.txt", "r")
eightbyeight = open("/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_8x8.txt", "r")
AmazonAWS = open("/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_AmazonAWS.txt", "r")
Common_Tech_Terms = open("/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_Common_Tech_Terms.txt", "r")
import sys
filenames = ['Common_Tech_Terms', 'eightbyeight', 'AmazonAWS', 'Checkpoint']
with open('output_file2.txt', 'w+') as outfile:
 for fname in filenames:
 with open(fname) as infile:
 for line in infile:
 outfile.write(line + "\n")

I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/Combining Files", line 60, in <module>
 with open(fname) as infile:
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'Common_Tech_Terms'
[Finished in 0.1s with exit code 1]
[shell_cmd: python -u "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/Combining Files"]
[dir: /Users/owenmurray/Desktop]

Anyone have any idea to fix this?

• Vlad DX: Check the error: No such file or directory: 'Common_Tech_Terms'
• a-burge: You might want to edit your heading as well to attract the correct answers.

Answer 1

You're losing the benefit of using a context manager, call open when you need a file content:

Checkpoint = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_Checkpoint.txt"
eightbyeight = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_8x8.txt"
AmazonAWS = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_AmazonAWS.txt"
Common_Tech_Terms = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_Common_Tech_Terms.txt"
filenames = [Common_Tech_Terms, eightbyeight, AmazonAWS, Checkpoint]
with open('output_file2.txt', 'w+') as outfile:
 for fname in filenames:
 with open(fname, "r") as infile:
 for line in infile:
 outfile.write(line + "\n")

Answer 2

If you do:

Checkpoint = open("/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_Checkpoint.txt", "r")

Then you will need to manually close the file as well:

Checkpoint.close()

---

Instead simply do:

# Updated. Removed "open(, 'r')"
Checkpoint = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_Checkpoint.txt"
eightbyeight = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_8x8.txt"
AmazonAWS = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_AmazonAWS.txt"
Common_Tech_Terms = "/Users/owenmurray/Desktop/vocab/Custom_Vocab_Split_by_Brand_Common_Tech_Terms.txt"
import sys
# Removed "". We need variable Common_Tech_Terms, not string "Common_Tech_Terms".
filenames = [Common_Tech_Terms, eightbyeight, AmazonAWS, Checkpoint]
with open('output_file2.txt', 'w+') as outfile:
 for fname in filenames:
 with open(fname) as infile:
 for line in infile:
 outfile.write(line + "\n")