Python has a with statement.

The Python with statement abstracts the try except finally construct to allow a cleaner way to do operations but get control of exception handling with final processing - with or without raised error.

One way to open and read a file in Python is as follows.

Here is the Python code [#1]
fs1 = "./py68-01-1.in.txt" f1 = open(fs1,"r",encoding="utf-8") text1 = f1.read() print("fs1=[{0:s}]".format(fs1)) print("text1=[{0:s}]".format(text1)) f1.close()

Here are some examples of input and output for the above program code.

Here is an example input.
Hello World 1
For the above example input, here is the expected output.
fs1=[./py68-01-1.in.txt] text1=[Hello World 1]

The with helps clean up the code when error handling is needed. Consider the following way in which files are often process.d

Here is the Python code [#2]
fs1 = "./py68-02-2.in.txt" f1 = open(fs1,"r",encoding="utf-8") try: text1 = f1.read() print("fs1=[{0:s}]".format(fs1)) print("text1=[{0:s}]".format(text1)) except Exception as e: print("(error encountered)") finally: f1.close()

Here are some examples of input and output for the above program code.

Here is an example input.
Hello World 2
For the above example input, here is the expected output.
fs1=[./py68-02-2.in.txt] text1=[Hello World 2]

Here is the above program using the with statement.

Here is the Python code [#3]
fs1 = "./py68-03-3.in.txt" with open(fs1,"r",encoding="utf-8") as f1: text1 = f1.read() print("fs1=[{0:s}]".format(fs1)) print("text1=[{0:s}]".format(text1))
Note that the close is not needed as it is called automatically.

Here are some examples of input and output for the above program code.

Here is an example input.
Hello World 3
For the above example input, here is the expected output.
fs1=[./py68-03-3.in.txt] text1=[Hello World 3]

Consider the following code example which shows how to make your own class and object to use with a with statement.

Here is the Python code [#4]
class custom(): def __init__(self, x1=0): print("custom object init , x1=[{0:d}]".format(x1)) def __enter__(self): print("custom object enter") return self def __exit__(self, type, value, traceback): print("custom object exit") # custom error processing can be done here # return False to not ignore any errors # return True when an error is to be re-raised self.finalize() return False def action1(self): print("custom object action") def finalize(self): print("custom object finalize") print("(before with)") with custom() as custom1: custom1.action1() print("(after with)")
Here is the output of the Python code.
(before with) custom object init , x1=[0] custom object enter custom object action custom object exit custom object finalize (after with)

To cleanly handle file errors, for example, on would create a class to do explicit file operations that has the above routines to more cleanly handle those errors. (Examples left as an exercise).