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Count Words in File in Python

Count the number of words in a text file.

BeginnerFile Handling ProgramsExample 12 of 20
count-words-in-file.py
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1# Program to count words 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    words = text.split()
9    print("Word count:", len(words))
10except FileNotFoundError:
11    print("File not found.")

Output

Enter filename: notes.txt
Word count: 42

What's going on

Splitting on whitespace with .split() gives a simple word count metric.

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