In Python, how can I open a file and read it on one line, and still be able to close the file afterwards?
<p>While working through this exercise I ran into a problem.</p>

<pre><code>from sys import argv
from os.path import exists

script, from_file, to_file = argv
print "Copying from %s to %s" % (from_file, to_file)

# we could do these two on one line too, how?
input = open(from_file)
indata = input.read()

print "The input file is %d bytes long" % len(indata)
print "Does the output file exist? %r" % exists(to_file)
print "Ready, hit RETURN to continue, CTRL-C to abort."

raw_input()

output = open(to_file, 'w')
output.write(indata)
print "Alright, all done."
output.close()
input.close()
</code></pre>

<p>The line <code># we could do these two on one line too, how?</code> is what’s confusing me. The only answer I could come up with was:</p>

<pre><code>indata = open(from_file).read()
</code></pre>

<p>This performed the way I wanted to, but it requires me to remove:</p>

<pre><code>input.close()
</code></pre>

<p>as the input variable no longer exists. How then, can I perform this close operation?</p>

<p>How would you solve this?</p>
