How to detect what kind of break line in a text file in python?

Question

My problem is the following. I have a text file with a bunch of lines in it. The problem is this text might have been created by Windows or Unix or Mac.

I want to open this text in python (as a string block) and split according to a break line to get an array at the end with all lines. The problem is I only tested this with a windows created file so I can split the string block easily according \n. But if I understand correctly other environnement use \r \r\n ...Etc I want a general solution where I can detect what kind of line break is used in a file before I start splitting in order to split it correctly. Is that possible to do?

thanks;

See [How can I detect DOS line breaks in a file?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2798627/how-can-i-detect-dos-line-breaks-in-a-file) (handles *nix, Mac, too) — AcK, Feb 16 '21 at 13:36

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 16 '21 at 13:21

2

UNIX_NEWLINE = '\n'
WINDOWS_NEWLINE = '\r\n'
MAC_NEWLINE = '\r'

This will be how the different os apply line breaks in a file and how python sees it

answered Feb 16 '21 at 13:21

Michiel

94
5

yes but if I open my file a get a string block. Is it sufficient to apply 'contains' with three ifs to be sure to get the right content? – Josh.h Feb 16 '21 at 13:30
if UNIX_NEWLINE in i or WINDOWS_NEWLINE in i or MAC_NEWLINE in i: – Michiel Feb 16 '21 at 13:44
yes you are right; it s simpler than i thought – Josh.h Feb 16 '21 at 13:50

How to detect what kind of break line in a text file in python?

1 Answers1