How to search for a string in text files?

Question

I want to check if a string is in a text file. If it is, do X. If it\'s not, do Y. However, this code always returns True for some reason. Can anyone see what i

Answer 1

Your check function should return the found boolean and use that to determine what to print.

def check():
        datafile = file('example.txt')
        found = False
        for line in datafile:
            if blabla in line:
                found = True
                break

        return found

found = check()
if found:
    print "true"
else:
    print "false"

the second block could also be condensed to:

if check():
    print "true"
else:
    print "false"

Answer 2

If user wants to search for the word in given text file.

 fopen = open('logfile.txt',mode='r+')

  fread = fopen.readlines()

  x = input("Enter the search string: ")

  for line in fread:

      if x in line:

          print(line)

Answer 3

I made a little function for this purpose. It searches for a word in the input file and then adds it to the output file.

def searcher(outf, inf, string):
    with open(outf, 'a') as f1:
        if string in open(inf).read():
            f1.write(string)

• outf is the output file
• inf is the input file
• string is of course, the desired string that you wish to find and add to outf.

Answer 4

if True:
    print "true"

This always happens because True is always True.

You want something like this:

if check():
    print "true"
else:
    print "false"

Good luck!

Answer 5

As Jeffrey Said, you are not checking the value of check(). In addition, your check() function is not returning anything. Note the difference:

def check():
    with open('example.txt') as f:
        datafile = f.readlines()
    found = False  # This isn't really necessary
    for line in datafile:
        if blabla in line:
            # found = True # Not necessary
            return True
    return False  # Because you finished the search without finding

Then you can test the output of check():

if check():
    print('True')
else:
    print('False')

Answer 6

found = False
def check():
datafile = file('example.txt')
for line in datafile:
    if "blabla" in line:
        found = True
        break
return found

if check():
    print "found"
else:
    print "not found"