Getting Poorly Formatted Output (Python)

Question

When I use the below code I get a very poorly formatted output. One of the main output problems are the /n. The /n don't show up in the real text file, but viewing it from the Python script it's all "unformatted".

The code:

def start():
    command = raw_input('''
1) Add
2) Look Up
3) See All
4) Delete Entry
''')
    if command=="1":
        add()
    if command=="2":
        look_up()


def add():
    name = raw_input("What is your name?")
    age = str(raw_input("How old are you?"))
    salary = raw_input("Enter Salary:")
    state = raw_input("State:")

    fileObj = open("employees.txt","a")
    fileObj.write("Name:"+name+"\n")
    fileObj.write('--------------------------\n')
    fileObj.write("Age:"+age+"\n")
    fileObj.write("Salary:"+salary+"\n")
    fileObj.write("State:"+state+"\n")
    fileObj.write("--------------------------\n")
    fileObj.write("\n\n")
    fileObj.close()
    print "The following text has been saved:"
    print "Name:"+name
    print "Age:"+age
    print "Salary:"+salary
    print "State:"+state
    print "Note: This text was assigned to one line."
    start()
def look_up():
    fileObj = open("employees.txt")
    line = fileObj.readlines()
    print line
    start()
start()

The outcome of reading and printing is:

['\n', 'Name:Noah\n', '--------------------------\n', 'Age:16\n', 'Salary:20000\n', 'State:NC\n', '--------------------------\n', '\n', '\n', 'Name:Daniel Rainey\n', '--------------------------\n', 'Age:18\n', 'Salary:200000\n', 'State:NC\n', '--------------------------\n', '\n', '\n', 'Name:fdadas\n', '--------------------------\n', 'Age:343\n', 'Salary:344433\n', 'State:NC\n', '--------------------------\n', '\n', '\n']

You should always close every opened file with .close(). If not, depending on the garbage collector ordering some really obscure bug will surface, like the file not getting updated. — vz0
– vz0, Commented Jan 24, 2011 at 17:41

user225312 · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-24 17:37:00Z

3

print line

You are printing a list and that is why the elements get printed.

Try iterating over it and then printing:

for ele in line:
    print ele

answered Jan 24, 2011 at 17:37

user225312

133k71 gold badges176 silver badges182 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Sven Marnach · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-24 17:37:02Z

1

Try .read() instead of .readlines():

def look_up():
    fileObj = open("employees.txt")
    contents = fileObj.read()
    print contents
    start()

readlines() reads a the lines of the file as a list, read() as a single string.

answered Jan 24, 2011 at 17:37

Sven Marnach

607k123 gold badges966 silver badges865 bronze badges

1 Comment

Noah R Over a year ago

When I try this nothing is outputted.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Getting Poorly Formatted Output (Python)

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Related