How to read a file in reverse order?

Question

How to read a file in reverse order using python? I want to read a file from last line to first line.

Answer 1

for line in reversed(open("filename").readlines()):
    print line.rstrip()

And in Python 3:

for line in reversed(list(open("filename"))):
    print(line.rstrip())

Answer 2

How about something like this:

import os


def readlines_reverse(filename):
    with open(filename) as qfile:
        qfile.seek(0, os.SEEK_END)
        position = qfile.tell()
        line = ''
        while position >= 0:
            qfile.seek(position)
            next_char = qfile.read(1)
            if next_char == "\n":
                yield line[::-1]
                line = ''
            else:
                line += next_char
            position -= 1
        yield line[::-1]


if __name__ == '__main__':
    for qline in readlines_reverse(raw_input()):
        print qline

Since the file is read character by character in reverse order, it will work even on very large files, as long as individual lines fit into memory.

Answer 3

import re

def filerev(somefile, buffer=0x20000):
  somefile.seek(0, os.SEEK_END)
  size = somefile.tell()
  lines = ['']
  rem = size % buffer
  pos = max(0, (size // buffer - 1) * buffer)
  while pos >= 0:
    somefile.seek(pos, os.SEEK_SET)
    data = somefile.read(rem + buffer) + lines[0]
    rem = 0
    lines = re.findall('[^\n]*\n?', data)
    ix = len(lines) - 2
    while ix > 0:
      yield lines[ix]
      ix -= 1
    pos -= buffer
  else:
    yield lines[0]

with open(sys.argv[1], 'r') as f:
  for line in filerev(f):
    sys.stdout.write(line)

Answer 4

import sys
f = open(sys.argv[1] , 'r')
for line in f.readlines()[::-1]:
    print line

Answer 5

you would need to first open your file in read format, save it to a variable, then open the second file in write format where you would write or append the variable using a the [::-1] slice, completely reversing the file. You can also use readlines() to make it into a list of lines, which you can manipulate

def copy_and_reverse(filename, newfile):
    with open(filename) as file:
        text = file.read()
    with open(newfile, "w") as file2:
        file2.write(text[::-1])

Answer 6

for line in reversed(open("file").readlines()):
    print line.rstrip()

If you are on linux, you can use tac command.

$ tac file

2 recipes you can find in ActiveState here and here