How to skip a empty line in text file using python

Question

I have a text file as below.

  l[0]l[1]l[2]l[3]l[4]l[5]l[6]
-----------------------------------
1| abc is a book and cba too
2| xyz is a pencil and zyx too
3| de         


        

Answer 1

You can count the size of words:

with open("example.txt", 'r') as example_file:
    for line in example_file:
        words = line.strip().split()
        if len(words) > 3:  # line has more than three words
            if words[3] in ['book', 'pencil']:
                print("4th word is 'book' or 'pencil'")
            elif words[3] == 'pen':
                print("4th word is 'pen'")

The output:

4th word is 'book' or 'pencil'
4th word is 'book' or 'pencil'
4th word is 'pen'

Answer 2

When using for l in fr python doesn't return an array but a string for each line, that you have to process in the loop. Using l.strip().split() will give you an array of strings, where a string would equal a word.

Then, is is meant to compare object type, like is this line a string ? or an int ?. So you cannot use it here. Use == to compare two objects of the same type.

Edit: some example code

import sys
fr = open("example.txt",'r')

for l in fr:
    word = l.strip().split()
    if word[3] == "book" or word[3] == "pencil":
        # Do something
    elif word[3] == "pen":
        # Do something

fr.close()

Answer 3

You can verify the list length at the beginning of your for loop and then continue if there is no 3rd element:

if len(l)< 3: continue

PS. Of course, you have to l.split() the line first, otherwise you will access single characters only.

Answer 4

You can check the length of the array of words.

But do note, when you index directly on l, you are going at the character level and not the word level as you seem to want to. Also, I'd use == instead of is.

Do something like this:

with open("a.txt", 'r') as fr:
    for l in fr:
        words = l.split()
        if len(words) < 3:
            continue
        if words[3] == "book" or words[3] == "pencil":
            print("Book or pencil")
        elif words[3] == "pen":
            print("Pen")