print(out)

```

We can also use a `with` statement (also known as a [context manager](https://realpython.com/python-with-statement/#the-with-statement-approach)) which enables you to group operations on the file within a block which improves the clarity of your code.

We can also use a `with` statement to ensure the files are properly acquired

and released.

Containing the operations within the same block also improves the clarity of your code.

```{note}

This kind of block is formally referred to as a [*context*](https://realpython.com/python-with-statement/#the-with-statement-approach).

```

Let's try to convert the two examples above into a `with` statement.

We change the writing example first

```{code-cell} python3

with open('newfile.txt', 'w') as f:

f.write('Testing\n')

f.write('Testing again')

```

Note that we do not need to call the `close()` method since the `with` block

will ensure the stream is closed at the end of the block.

With slight modifications, we can also read files using `with`

```{code-cell} python3

with open('newfile.txt', 'r') as fo:

out = fo.read()

print(out)

```

Now suppose that we want to read input from one file and write output to another.

Here's how we could accomplish this task while correctly acquiring and returning

resources to the operating system using `with` statements:

```{code-cell} python3

with open("newfile.txt", "r") as f:

fo.write(f'Line {i}: {line} \n')

```

The output file will be

```{code-cell} python3

fo = open('output.txt', 'r')

out = fo.read()

print(out)

with open('output.txt', 'r') as fo:

print(fo.read())

```

We can write the example above under the same context to reduce redundancy

We can simplify the example above by grouping the two `with` statements into one line

```{code-cell} python3

with open("newfile.txt", "r") as f, open("output2.txt", "w") as fo:

for i, line in enumerate(f):

fo.write(f'Line {i}: {line} \n')

```

The output file will be the same

```{code-cell} python3

fo = open('output2.txt', 'r')

out = fo.read()

print(out)

with open('output2.txt', 'r') as fo:

print(fo.read())

```

```{note}

Note that we only used `r` and `w` mode. There are [more modes](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/reading-writing-text-files-python/) you could experiment with.

Suppose we want to continue to write into the existing file

instead of overwriting it.

we can switch the mode to `a` which stands for append mode

```{code-cell} python3

with open('output2.txt', 'a') as fo:

fo.write('\nThis is the end of the file')

```

```{code-cell} python3

with open('output2.txt', 'r') as fo:

print(fo.read())

```

```{note}

Note that we only covered `r`, `w`, and `a` mode here, which are the most commonly used modes.

Python provides [a variety of modes](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/reading-writing-text-files-python/)

that you could experiment with.

```

### Paths