How can I force Python's file.write() to use the same newline format in Windows as in Linux ("\r\n" vs. "\n")?

python newline
user1148478 picture user1148478 · Feb 7, 2012 · Viewed 126.8k times · Source

I have the simple code:

f = open('out.txt','w')
f.write('line1\n')
f.write('line2')
f.close()

Code runs on windows and gives file size 12 bytes, and linux gives 11 bytes The reason is new line

In linux it's \n and for win it is \r\n

But in my code I specify new line as \n. The question is how can I make python keep new line as \n always, and not check the operating system.

Answer

Praveen Gollakota picture Praveen Gollakota · Feb 7, 2012

You need to open the file in binary mode i.e. wb instead of w. If you don't, the end of line characters are auto-converted to OS specific ones.

Here is an excerpt from Python reference about open().

The default is to use text mode, which may convert '\n' characters to a platform-specific representation on writing and back on reading.

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