Question

I saved a file as DictionaryE.txt in a Modules folder I created within Python. Then I type:

fh = open("DictionaryE.txt")

I get this error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#17>", line 1, in <module>
    fh = open("DictionaryE.txt")
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'DictionaryE.txt'

What am I doing wrong? Could someone please describe a specific, detailed step-by-step instruction on what to do? Thanks.

Answer 1

As other answers suggested, you need to specify the file’s path, not just the name.

For example, if you know the file is in C:\Blah\Modules, use

fh = open('c:/Blah/Modules/DictionaryE.txt')

Note that I’ve turned the slashes “the right way up” (Unix-style;-) rather than “the Windows way”. That’s optional, but Python (and actually the underlying C runtime library) are perfectly happy with it, and it saves you trouble on many occasions (since \, in Python string literals just as in C ones, is an “escape marker”, once in a while, if you use it, the string value you’ve actually entered is not the one you think — with ‘/’ instead, zero problems).