Python appending to a file concurrently

Question

I wrote a simple program in Python:

from random import random from threading import Thread from time import sleep def write_to_file(i): sleep(random()) with open("test.txt", "a") as f: f.write(f"{i}\n") for i in range(20): Thread(target=write_to_file, args=[i]).run()

I'd expect this program to write numbers from 0-19 to test.txt in random order. Instead, the program writes 0-19 in order, and it takes a few seconds to complete, signifying that it executed threads one after the other, in order.

How does this work? Does with open(...) block every other thread from running that also has with open(...) on the same file?

maya · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-04 06:09:17Z

Don't use the run method, change it to start, the run method is to call the main thread, equivalent to the ordinary function, start will only create a new thread, you wait a few seconds here because you set sleep(random()), you can comment this line:

from threading import Thread def write_to_file(i): with open("test.txt", "a") as f: f.write(f"{i}\n") for i in range(20): Thread(target=write_to_file, args=[i]).start()

Artyom Vancyan · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-04 06:09:34Z

Does with open(...) block every other thread from running that also has with open(...) on the same file?

No, it doesn't.

run method of a thread starts and joins the thread which means that it waits for a thread to be joint for every iteration. To make it parallel you must call start instead of run then join all threads at once.

from random import random from threading import Thread from time import sleep def write_to_file(i): sleep(random()) with open("test.txt", "a") as f: f.write(f"{i}\n") threads = [] for i in range(20): thread = Thread(target=write_to_file, args=[i]) thread.start() threads.append(thread) for thread in threads: thread.join()

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Python appending to a file concurrently

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Related