On Jul 11, 1:25 pm, Stefan Behnel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > rvr wrote: > > On Jul 11, 1:28 pm, Steven D'Aprano > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:06:04 +0000, rvr wrote: > >>> Is there a way to edit the file in place? The best I seem to be able to > >>> do is to use your second solution to read the file into the string, then > >>> re-open the file for writing and put the whole thing back (minus the > >>> first byte). Thanks. > >> I don't believe that any of the popular operating systems in common use > >> (Windows, Linux, Mac, *BSD) have any such functionality. > > >> For safety, you are best off copying the file (minus the first byte) to a > >> temporary file, then renaming the copy over the original. That way if > >> your process dies midway through copying the file, you don't lose data. > > >> Renaming the file is atomic under Linux and (probably) Mac, so it is as > >> safe as possible. Even under Windows, which isn't atomic, it has a > >> smaller margin for disaster than over-writing the file in place. > > > Thanks for your response. While searching for solution, I found this: > > > http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2001-December/116519.html > > > Quoting from it: > > > """ > > Replace 2 bytes in place beginning at offset 100 (101st byte): > > > f = open('text_input', 'r+b') > > f.seek(100) > > f.write(chr(123) + chr(0x80)) > > f.seek(0,2) > > f.close() > > """ > > > Can I use the seek() and write() methods in a similar way to remove > > the first byte? For whatever reason I can't seem to make it work > > myself. Thanks again. > > Funny. I just happened to read ESR's "how to ask questions the smart way" and > your posts match quite a few of the examples. :) > > No, you can't. Steven's solution is what I'd go for. > > Stefan
Forgive my newbie ignorance, but I am wondering why the other method would not work? I mean it may not be very safe, but I guess it may perform a lot better, than having to read the whole file just to cut out the first byte. TIA, ./alex -- .w( the_mindstorm )p. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
