Reading Files

Programs become real when their work survives after they exit. Files are the simplest persistence.

Reading a file

with open("notes.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    content = f.read()          # whole file as one string
print(content)

open(path, mode, encoding=...) returns a file object; "r" is read mode. The with block closes the file automatically — even if an error happens inside. Always use with.

Useful reads:

with open("notes.txt", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    lines = f.readlines()       # list of lines (with trailing newlines)

with open("notes.txt", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    for line in f:              # memory-friendly: line by line
        print(line.strip())

A file that does not exist raises FileNotFoundError — you already know how to catch it.