Writing List to a File in Python

In this article, you’ll learn how to write a list to a file in Python.

Often, we require storing a list, dictionary, or any in-memory data structure to persistent storage such as file or database so that we can reuse it whenever needed. For example, after analyzing data, you can store it in a file, and for the next time, that data can be read to use in an application.

There are multiple ways to write a Python list to a file. After reading this article, You’ll learn:

• Write a list to a text file and read it in a Python program when required using a write() and read() method.
• How to use Python’s pickle module to serialize and deserialize a list into a file. Serialize means saving a list object to a file. Deserialize means reading that list back into memory.
• Use of built-in json module to write a list to a json file.

Steps to Write List to a File in Python

Example to Write List to a File in Python

# list of names
names = ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

# open file in write mode
with open(r'E:/demos/files_demos/account/sales.txt', 'w') as fp:
    for item in names:
        # write each item on a new line
        fp.write("%s\n" % item)
    print('Done')Code language: Python (python)

Note: We used the \n in write() method to break the lines to write each item on a new line.

Output:

Below content got written in a file.

Jessa
Eric
Bob

Example to Read List from a File in Python

Now, Let’s see how to read the same list from a file back into memory.

# empty list to read list from a file
names = []

# open file and read the content in a list
with open(r'E:\demos\files_demos\account\sales.txt', 'r') as fp:
    for line in fp:
        # remove linebreak from a current name
        # linebreak is the last character of each line
        x = line[:-1]

        # add current item to the list
        names.append(x)

# display list
print(names)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

Write a list to file without using a loop

In this example, we are using a join method of a str class to add a newline after each item of a list and write it to a file.

The join() method will join all items in a list into a string, using a \n character as separator (which will add a new line after each list item).

Example:

# list of names
names = ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

with open(r'E:/demos/files_demos/account/sales.txt', 'w') as fp:
    fp.write('\n'.join(names))Code language: Python (python)

If you want to convert all items of a list to a string when writing then use the generator expression.

# list of names
names = ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

with open(r'E:/demos/files_demos/account/sales.txt', 'w') as fp:
    fp.write("\n".join(str(item) for item in names))Code language: Python (python)

Pickle module to write (serialize) list into a file

Python pickle module is used for serializing and de-serializing a Python object. For example, we can convert any Python objects such as list, dict into a character stream using pickling. This character stream contains all the information necessary to reconstruct the object in the future.

Any object in Python can be pickled and saved in persistent storage such as database and file for later use.

Example: Pickle and write Python list into a file

• First import the pickle module
• To write a list to a binary file, use the access mode ‘b’ to open a file. For writing, it will be wb, and for reading, it will be rb. The file open() function will check if the file already exists and, if not, will create one. If a file already exists, it gets truncated, and new content will be added at the start of a file.
• Next, The pickle’s dump(list, file_object) method converts an in-memory Python object into a bytes string and writes it to a binary file.

Example:

# Python program to store list to file using pickle module
import pickle

# write list to binary file
def write_list(a_list):
    # store list in binary file so 'wb' mode
    with open('listfile', 'wb') as fp:
        pickle.dump(names, fp)
        print('Done writing list into a binary file')

# Read list to memory
def read_list():
    # for reading also binary mode is important
    with open('sampleList', 'rb') as fp:
        n_list = pickle.load(fp)
        return n_list

# list of names
names = ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']
write_list(names)
r_names = read_list()
print('List is', r_names)
Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Done writing list into a binary file
List is ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

Json module to write list into a JSON file

We can use it in the following cases.

• Most of the time, when you execute a GET request, you receive a response in JSON format, and you can store JSON response in a file for future use or for an underlying system to use.
• For example, you have data in a list, and you want to encode and store it in a file in the form of JSON.

Example:

In this example, we are going to use the Python json module to convert the list into JSON format and write it into a file using a json dump() method.

# Python program to store list to JSON file
import json

def write_list(a_list):
    print("Started writing list data into a json file")
    with open("names.json", "w") as fp:
        json.dump(a_list, fp)
        print("Done writing JSON data into .json file")

# Read list to memory
def read_list():
    # for reading also binary mode is important
    with open('names.json', 'rb') as fp:
        n_list = json.load(fp)
        return n_list

# assume you have the following list
names = ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']
write_list(names)
r_names = read_list()
print('List is', r_names)
Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Started writing list data into a json file

Done writing JSON data into .json file
List is ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

writelines() method to write a list of lines to a file

We can write multiple lines at once using the writelines() method. For example, we can pass a list of strings to add to the file. Use this method when you want to write a list into a file.

# list of names
names = ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

with open(r'E:/demos/files_demos/account/sales.txt', 'w') as fp:
    fp.writelines(names)Code language: Python (python)

Here is the output we are getting

cat sales.txt 
JessaEricBob

As you can see in the output, the file writelines() method doesn’t add any line separators after each list item.
To overcome this limitation, we can use list comprehension to add the new line character after each element in the list and then pass the list to the writelines method.

Example:

# list of names
names = ['Jessa', 'Eric', 'Bob']

# add '\n' after each item of a list
n_names = ["{}\n".format(i) for i in names]
with open(r'E:/demos/files_demos/account/sales.txt', 'w') as fp:
    fp.writelines(n_names)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

cat sales.txt 
Jessa
Eric
Bob