Create an empty file using Python

File handling is a very important concept for any programmer. It can be used for creating, deleting, and moving files, or to store application data, user configurations, videos, images, etc. Python too supports file handling and allows users to handle files i.e., to read and write files, along with many other file handling options, to operate on files. In this article, we will see how to create a Python file.

Pre-Requisite

Refer to the following articles to check the basics of file handling.

• Basics of file handling
• Reading and writing to a file

Creating an empty file in Python

File handling can also be used for creating a file. Even files with different extensions like .pdf, .txt, .jpeg can be created using file handling in Python. To create a file, the file must be open for writing. To open a file for writing access mode of file must be w, a, w+, a+. Access modes govern the type of operations possible in the opened file. It refers to how the file will be used once it’s opened. Below is the list of access modes to create a file in Python:

• Write Only (‘w’): Open the file for writing. For an existing file, the data is truncated and over-written.
• Write and Read (‘w+’): Open the file for reading and writing. For an existing file, data is truncated and over-written.
• Append Only (‘a’): Open the file for writing. The data being written will be inserted at the end, after the existing data.
• Append and Read (‘a+’): Open the file for reading and writing. The data being written will be inserted at the end, after the existing data.

Example 1: Creating a File Using Python's OS Module

In this example, we are using OS Module to create a Python file. we will create a new file myfile.txt. To verify this we will use os.listdir() method of os module to list out the directories before and after creating a new file.

# importing module
import os

# path of the current script
path = 'D:/Pycharm projects/gfg'

# Before creating
dir_list = os.listdir(path)
print("List of directories and files before creation:")
print(dir_list)
print()

# Creates a new file
with open('myfile.txt', 'w') as fp:
    pass

# After creating
dir_list = os.listdir(path)
print("List of directories and files after creation:")
print(dir_list)

Output:

List of directories and files before creation:
['.idea', 'gfg.py', 'venv']
List of directories and files after creation:
['.idea', 'gfg.py', 'myfile.txt', 'venv']

Example 2: Creating a New File at a Specified Location

To create a file in Python at a specified location os module is used. In this example, the Python script uses the os module to create an empty file named 'myfile.txt' in the specified path 'D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Nikhil'. The script first displays the list of directories and files before and after the file creation.

import os

# Specify the path
path = 'D:/Pycharm projects/GeeksforGeeks/Nikhil'

# Specify the file name
file = 'myfile.txt'

# Before creating
dir_list = os.listdir(path)
print("List of directories and files before creation:")
print(dir_list)
print()

# Creating a file at specified location
with open(os.path.join(path, file), 'w') as fp:
    pass
   
# After creating
dir_list = os.listdir(path)
print("List of directories and files after creation:")
print(dir_list)

Output:

List of directories and files before creation:
['test_nikhil.txt']
List of directories and files after creation:
['myfile.txt', 'test_nikhil.txt']