with statement in Python

In Python, with statement is used in exception handling to make the code cleaner and much more readable. It simplifies the management of common resources like file streams. Observe the following code example on how the use of with statement makes code cleaner. 

# file handling

# 1) without using with statement
file = open('file_path', 'w')
file.write('hello world !')
file.close()

# 2) without using with statement
file = open('file_path', 'w')
try:
    file.write('hello world')
finally:
    file.close()

# using with statement
with open('file_path', 'w') as file:
    file.write('hello world !')

Notice that unlike the first two implementations, there is no need to call file.close() when using with statement. The with statement itself ensures proper acquisition and release of resources. An exception during the file.write() call in the first implementation can prevent the file from closing properly which may introduce several bugs in the code, i.e. many changes in files do not go into effect until the file is properly closed. The second approach in the above example takes care of all the exceptions but using the with statement makes the code compact and much more readable. Thus, with statement helps avoiding bugs and leaks by ensuring that a resource is properly released when the code using the resource is completely executed. The with statement is popularly used with file streams, as shown above and with Locks, sockets, subprocesses and telnets etc.

Supporting the “with” statement in user defined objects

There is nothing special in open() which makes it usable with the with statement and the same functionality can be provided in user defined objects. Supporting with statement in your objects will ensure that you never leave any resource open. To use with statement in user defined objects you only need to add the methods __enter__() and __exit__() in the object methods. Consider the following example for further clarification. 

# a simple file writer object

class MessageWriter(object):
    def __init__(self, file_name):
        self.file_name = file_name
    
    def __enter__(self):
        self.file = open(self.file_name, 'w')
        return self.file

    def __exit__(self, *args):
        self.file.close()

# using with statement with MessageWriter

with MessageWriter('my_file.txt') as xfile:
    xfile.write('hello world')

Let’s examine the above code. If you notice, what follows the with keyword is the constructor of MessageWriter. As soon as the execution enters the context of the with statement a MessageWriter object is created and python then calls the __enter__() method. In this __enter__() method, initialize the resource you wish to use in the object. This __enter__() method should always return a descriptor of the acquired resource. What are resource descriptors? These are the handles provided by the operating system to access the requested resources. In the following code block, file is a descriptor of the file stream resource. 

file = open('hello.txt')

In the MessageWriter example provided above, the __enter__() method creates a file descriptor and returns it. The name xfile here is used to refer to the file descriptor returned by the __enter__() method. The block of code which uses the acquired resource is placed inside the block of the with statement. As soon as the code inside the with block is executed, the __exit__() method is called. All the acquired resources are released in the __exit__() method. This is how we use the with statement with user defined objects. This interface of __enter__() and __exit__() methods which provides the support of with statement in user defined objects is called Context Manager.

The contextlib module

A class based context manager as shown above is not the only way to support the with statement in user defined objects. The contextlib module provides a few more abstractions built upon the basic context manager interface. Here is how we can rewrite the context manager for the MessageWriter object using the contextlib module. 

from contextlib import contextmanager


class MessageWriter(object):
    def __init__(self, filename):
        self.file_name = filename

    @contextmanager
    def open_file(self):
        try:
            file = open(self.file_name, 'w')
            yield file
        finally:
            file.close()


# usage
message_writer = MessageWriter('hello.txt')
with message_writer.open_file() as my_file:
    my_file.write('hello world')

In this code example, because of the yield statement in its definition, the function open_file() is a generator function. When this open_file() function is called, it creates a resource descriptor named file. This resource descriptor is then passed to the caller and is represented here by the variable my_file. After the code inside the with block is executed the program control returns back to the open_file() function. The open_file() function resumes its execution and executes the code following the yield statement. This part of code which appears after the yield statement releases the acquired resources. The @contextmanager here is a decorator. The previous class-based implementation and this generator-based implementation of context managers is internally the same. While the later seems more readable, it requires the knowledge of generators, decorators and yield.

with statement in Python – FAQs

When to use the with statement?

The with statement is used when you are working with resources that need to be managed, such as files or database connections. It ensures that these resources are properly initialized before your code executes and automatically cleaned up afterwards, regardless of whether the code runs successfully or raises an exception. This makes it particularly useful for handling resource-intensive operations where proper cleanup is crucial.

What is the advantage of using with?

The primary advantage of using the with statement is automatic resource management. It eliminates the need for explicit try and finally blocks to ensure proper cleanup of resources. When the with block exits, it automatically calls the __exit__() method of the context manager, ensuring that resources are released or cleaned up appropriately.

How to use with in Python?

To use the with statement, you typically invoke it with a context manager object that supports the context management protocol. For example, when working with files, you can open and read a file like this:

with open('example.txt', 'r') as f:
    content = f.read()
    # Work with file content

In this example:

• open('example.txt', 'r') returns a file object.
• as f assigns the file object to the variable f.
• Inside the with block, f is used to read the content of the file (f.read()).
• After exiting the with block, the file object f is automatically closed, releasing system resources.

What is the benefit of using the with statement to open files?

Using with to open files (with open('example.txt', 'r') as f:) ensures that the file is automatically closed after operations are done, even if exceptions occur during file operations. This eliminates the need for explicit calls to f.close() and ensures proper resource cleanup, improving code readability and reliability.

What is an empty statement in Python?

An empty statement in Python consists of a single semicolon (;). It is a placeholder statement that does nothing when executed. It is mainly used in situations where a statement is syntactically required, but no action is needed or desired. For example:

if condition:
    pass  # Pass is an empty statement indicating no action needed
else:
    # Do something else