What is the python “with” statement designed for?

Question

I came across the Python with statement for the first time today. I\'ve been using Python lightly for several months and didn\'t even know of its existence! G

Answer 1

The with statement works with so-called context managers:

http://docs.python.org/release/2.5.2/lib/typecontextmanager.html

The idea is to simplify exception handling by doing the necessary cleanup after leaving the 'with' block. Some of the python built-ins already work as context managers.