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Count Characters in File in Python

Count the total number of characters in a text file.

BeginnerFile Handling ProgramsExample 14 of 20
count-characters-in-file.py
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1# Program to count characters in a file
2

3filename = input("Enter filename: ")
4

5try:
6    with open(filename, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
7        text = f.read()
8    print("Character count:", len(text))
9except FileNotFoundError:
10    print("File not found.")

Output

Enter filename: notes.txt
Character count: 120

What's going on

len(text) returns the total number of characters including spaces and newlines.

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