Instead of working with python at the desktop, I often use pythonista on my ipad to work through coursework for coursera. I need to access separate text files to accomplish certain exercises, which is no problem usually, except when it comes to text files locked behind secure password protected websites such as dropbox. How do I get through the …

Reading file from dropbox

from dropbox import client, rest, session
import urllib
import webbrowser
import re
from dropboxlogin import get_client
dropbox_client = get_client()

apples_file = dropbox_client.get_file('iA Write/All because I said "apple.txt').read()


def lines_startswith(file, letter):
    """ (file open for reading, str) -> list of str

    Return the list of lines from file that begin with letter. The lines should have the
    newline removed.

    Precondition: len(letter) == 1
    """

    matches = []

    for line in file:
    	if line.startswith(letter):
    		matches.append(line.rstrip('\n'))

    print matches
    
 
lines_startswith(apples_file, 'A')

My sense is that you should rename apples_file to apples_file_content or apples_file_text. The call to .read() at the end of that line should mean that you now have the content (the text) of the file instead of a file handle. The way to test my assumption is to put the line "print(apples_file)" just after your call to dropbox_client.get_file(). If it prints out the contents of your file then my assumption is correct.

If you already have the content of the file then you could write:

def lines_startswith(text, letter):

matches = []

for line in text.splitlines():

if line.startswith(letter):

matches.append(line.rstrip('\n'))

print matches

print('\n'.join(matches))

or in one line...

def  lines_startswith_2(text, letter):

print([x for x in text.splitlines() if x[0] == letter])