Find&Replace using Python - Binary file

Question

Hello, I'm attempting to do a "find and replace" in a file on a Mac OS X computer. Although it appears to work correctly. It seems that the file is somehow altered. The text editor that I use (Text Wrangler) is unable to even open the file once this is completed.

Here is the code as I have it:

  import fileinput
    for line in fileinput.FileInput("testfile.txt",inplace=1):
       line = line.replace("newhost",host)
       print line,

When I view the file from the terminal, it does say "testfile" may be a binary file. See it anyway? Is there a chance that this replace is corrupting the file? Do I have another option for this to work? I really appreciate the help.

Thank you, Aaron

UPDATE: the actual file is NOT a .txt file it is a .plist file which is preference file in Mac OS X if that makes any difference

LINK to plist file: http://www.queencitytech.com/plist.zip

Answer 1

Your code worked for me fine. However, I would suggest a different approach: don't try overwriting the file directly. I never like changing the file directly because if you have a bug or something like that the file is lost. Generate a new file then copy it over manually (or within python, if you really want to).

PATH = 'testfile.txt'
FILE = open(PATH)
OUT_FILE = open('out_' + PATH, 'w')

for line in FILE.readlines():
   print >> OUT_FILE, line.replace('newhost', host),

Answer 2

Try using sys.stdout.write instead of print. readlines() retains the new line characters at the end of the read line. The print statement adds an additional new line character, so it's likely double spacing the file.