Read First Line of File Using Python

To read the first line of a file in Python, the easiest way is with the Python file readline() function.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    first_line = f.readline()

You can also use the Python readlines() function and access the first item to get the first line of a file.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    first_line = f.readlines()[0]

One other way you can read the first line of a file is with the read() function and then split it on the new line character.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    lines = f.read()
    first_line = lines.split("/n")[0]

One last way you can read the first line of a file is with the next() function.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    first_line = next(f)

When working with files, the ability to easily read from or write to a file is valuable.

One such case is if you want to just read the first line of a file.

There are a number of different ways you can read the first line from a file in Python.

The easiest way, in our opinion, is with the file readline() function. readline() returns one line from the file. If you use readline() directly after opening the file, you will be able to read the contents of the first line.

Below is an example showing how you can get the first line of a file using readline() in Python.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    first_line = f.readline()

Using readlines() Function in Python to Read First Line of File

Another way you can read the first line of a file is with the readlines() function. readlines() reads all of the lines and returns a list.

After using readlines(), you can get the first element of the list, which will be the first line of the file.

Below is an example showing how you can get the first line of a file using readlines() in Python.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    first_line = f.readlines()[0]

Using read() and split() in Python to Read First Line of File

Another way you can read the first line of a file is with the read() function.

read() reads the entire file you are working with.

After reading the entire file with read(), you can use split() to split the file by the newline character and get the lines.

After this, you have a list with the lines of the file and you can again access the first element of the list of lines.

Below is an example showing how you can get the first line of a file using read() and split() in Python.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    lines = f.read()
    first_line = lines.split("/n")[0]

Using Python next() function to Read First Line of File

One last way you can get the first line of a file is with the next() function.

When you open a file, you get a generator and can use the next() function. Since the first line is the next line after you’ve opened a file, then you can get the first line with next().

Below is an example showing how you can get the first line of a file using next() in Python.

with open("example.txt") as f:
    first_line = next(f)

Hopefully this article has been useful for you to learn how to read the first line from a file in your Python programs.