What’s the Best Way to Python Read Text File?

Hey everyone,

I’m automating some tasks related to image management. I use Cloudinary to store and serve my images, and I often store metadata like image URLs, alt text, or captions in a plain .txt file.

I’m looking for the cleanest and most flexible way to use Python to read a text file and parse its contents. There seem to be multiple options like read(), readline(), and readlines(). What are the differences, and what’s best for real-world scenarios like loading image URLs into a list?

Would love some examples, too. Thanks!

Great question! Reading from text files is one of the most fundamental skills in Python, and it’s super useful when your file contains a list of image URLs, metadata, or processing instructions. Let’s walk through how to use Python to read a text file, how each method works, and how you might use it in media-related workflows like Cloudinary uploads or batch processing.

Let’s say you have a file called images.txt that contains:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image1.jpg

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image2.jpg

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image3.jpgCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

Now, let’s load this into Python.

with open("images.txt", "r") as f:

    data = f.read()

    print(data)Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• Reads the entire file as one string.
• Good for small files or when you need to do global operations (like regex).

You’ll need to split it manually if you want a list:

lines = data.splitlines()

with open("images.txt", "r") as f:

    lines = f.readlines()

    print(lines)Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• Returns a list of lines, including newline characters (\n).
• Great when you want to loop over each line.

You’ll usually want to strip each line:

cleaned = [line.strip() for line in lines]

with open("images.txt", "r") as f:

    for line in f:

        print(line.strip())Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

• Best for large files (memory efficient).
• Reads one line at a time, ideal for streaming operations (like uploading each image to Cloudinary).

import cloudinary

import cloudinary.uploader

cloudinary.config(

  cloud_name="your-cloud",

  api_key="your-api-key",

  api_secret="your-api-secret"

)

with open("images.txt", "r") as file:

    for url in file:

        image_url = url.strip()

        result = cloudinary.uploader.upload(image_url)

        print("Uploaded:", result["secure_url"])Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

You can also load all URLs first, then process:

with open("images.txt", "r") as f:

    image_urls = [line.strip() for line in f]

for url in image_urls:

    print("To upload:", url)Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

The with statement automatically closes the file when done, cleaner and safer:

Good:

with open("file.txt") as f:

    ...Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Bad:

f = open("file.txt")

# If an error happens, it might never closeCode language: PHP (php)

Sometimes text files contain JSON or metadata. For example:

image_metadata.txt:

{"url": "https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image1.jpg", "alt": "A cool image"}

{"url": "https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image2.jpg", "alt": "Another image"}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

You can parse it like this:

import json

with open("image_metadata.txt", "r") as f:

    for line in f:

        data = json.loads(line)

        print("Uploading:", data["url"])Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Perfect for structured uploads or when handling alt text and tags along with the image.

Method	Description	Returns	Best For
read()	Reads entire file as one big string	str	Small files, global search
readlines()	Reads all lines at once	list	Parsing all at once
File iterator	Reads line by line	One line at a time	Large files, real-time ops

If you print each line directly, you may see double spacing:

for line in lines:

    print(line)  # Includes \n alreadyCode language: PHP (php)

Fix it with:

.strip():

print(line.strip())Code language: CSS (css)

Use a try-except block:

try:

    with open("missing.txt", "r") as f:

        print(f.read())

except FileNotFoundError:

    print("Oops! File not found.")Code language: PHP (php)

This is helpful when reading user-generated filenames or automated logs.

Whether you’re batch processing image URLs, reading Cloudinary upload logs, or just loading metadata, learning how to use Python to read a text file efficiently is essential.

• Use .read() for quick scripts.
• Use .readlines() or list comprehensions for moderate data.
• Use line-by-line iteration for scalability.

Combine file reading with image management tools like Cloudinary, and you’ve got a powerful automation stack for uploads, validations, and batch editing.