B2.5 File processing: notes and practice

What you need to know

Our summary of the topic in our own words, not the IB guide.

• Open a file for reading, read its contents, and close it properly
• Read a file line by line and process each line
• Write and append data to a file, and explain the difference between write and append mode
• Parse a delimited text file such as CSV into a list or a two-dimensional structure
• Convert text read from a file into the right data type before using it
• Handle file errors such as a missing file or a permission problem
• Explain the difference between an absolute and a relative file path

Practice questions

Questions for this topic are being written. The other topics below already have some.

Exam tips for B2.5

• Remember that text read from a file is a string. Convert it before doing arithmetic.
• Know that write mode replaces the file and append mode adds to the end.
• Close files, or use the language feature that closes them for you.