Computer Science – File Handling – Binary Files

File Handling : Binary Files
Amit Singh
MGM Higher Secondary School BOKARO
INTRODUCTION
 Most of the files that we see in our computer system are called Binary files.




|| COMPUTER SCIENCE XII ||
 Example:


Executable
Image files Video files Audio files Archieve files
files
.png .mp4 .mp3 .zip .exe
.jpg .3gp .wav .rar
.dll
.gif .mkv .mka .iso
.bmp .avi .aac .7z .class

 We can open some binary files in the normal text editor but we can’t read the content
present inside the file.
 Because of binary format which is understandable by computer or a machine.
 There is no requirement of translator.
 Processing of these files are easy and fast.
 In Python, pickling process is used to read, write, append and update binary files.

PICKLING IN PYTHON
 Pickle is responsible for serializing and de-serializing of data.
 Serializing means converting a python object (like List, Dictionary etc.) into byte
stream and de-serializing means converting the stream back to python object.
 The advantage is that we can use store data in file for later use, send it over different
protocols, save the data in databases.
PICKLE MODULE
 pickle.dump()
 Used to write the object in a file
 Syntax: pickle.dump(<structure>,file object)
 Here, structure can be any sequence such as list, dictionary of Python.
 And file object is the file handle of the file, in which to write.
 pickle.load()
 Used to read the data from a file.
 Syntax: Structure=pickle.load(file object)
 Here, structure can be any sequence such as list, dictionary of Python.
 And file object is the file handle of the file, from which to read.
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, File Handling : Binary Files
Amit Singh
MGM Higher Secondary School BOKARO
OPERATIONS ON BINARY FILE




|| COMPUTER SCIENCE XII ||
###SIMPLE WRITE AND READ IN BINARY FORMAT ###
import pickle
def write():
f=open("Binaryfile.dat",'wb')
list=[1,2,3,4]
pickle.dump(list,f)
f.close()
def read():
f=open("Binaryfile.dat",'rb')
lst=pickle.load(f)
print(lst)
f.close()
write()
read()

###MULTIPLE RECORDS AT A SAME TIME BUT IN A SINGLE LIST
APPENDING DATA INTO THE FILE ###
import pickle
def write():
f=open("Binaryfile.dat",'wb')
Rec=[]
while True:
roll=int(input("ENTER ROLL NO.: "))
name=input("ENTER NAME OF STUDENT: ")
marks=int(input("ENTER THE TOTAL MARKS OBTAINED: "))
grade=input("ENTER THE GRADE: ")
R=[roll,name,marks,grade]
Rec.append(R)
ch=input("DO YOU WANT INSERT MORE ENTRIES (y/n): ")
if ch=='n' or ch=='N':
break
pickle.dump(Rec,f)
f.close()
def read():
f=open("Binaryfile.dat",'rb')
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lst=pickle.load(f)
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print(lst)