Chapter 12: Problem 2

Which file access flag do you use to open a file when you want all output written to the end of the file’s existing contents?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Answer: The file access flag for appending data to the end of a file's contents is 'a' (append).

Step by step solution

Understand file access flags

File access flags determine how a file is opened and the mode in which it will be operated (read, write, etc.). Some common file access flags include 'r' for read, 'w' for write, and 'a' for append.

Identify the flag for appending data

In this case, we want to open a file with the intent of appending data to the end of its existing contents. The appropriate flag for this operation is 'a' (append). This flag ensures that any new output will be written at the end of the file, which preserves the file's current contents.

Using the flag in a program

When opening a file using a programming language such as Python, we can specify the desired access flag when calling the "open()" function. For example, to open a file named "example.txt" for appending data, the code would look like this: ''' file = open("example.txt", "a") ''' Remember that different programming languages may have variations in their syntax, but the concept of file access flags and their meanings remain consistent.

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Which file access flag do you use to open a file when you want all output written to the end of the file’s existing contents?

Short Answer

Step by step solution

Understand file access flags

Identify the flag for appending data

Using the flag in a program

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