how to direct output into a txt file in python in windows

Question

import itertools  

variations = itertools.product('abc', repeat=3)  
for variations in variations:  
    variation_string = ""  
    for letter in variations:  
        variation_string += letter  
    print (variation_string)  

How can I redirect output into a txt file (on windows platform)?

Answer 1

From the console you would write:

python script.py > out.txt

If you want to do it in Python then you would write:

with open('out.txt', 'w') as f:
    f.write(something)

Obviously this is just a trivial example. You'd clearly do more inside the with block.

Answer 2

You may also redirect stdout to your file directly in your script as print writes by default to sys.stdout file handler. Python provides a simple way to to it:

import sys  # Need to have acces to sys.stdout
fd = open('foo.txt','w') # open the result file in write mode
old_stdout = sys.stdout   # store the default system handler to be able to restore it
sys.stdout = fd # Now your file is used by print as destination 
print 'bar' # 'bar' is added to your file
sys.stdout=old_stdout # here we restore the default behavior
print 'foorbar' # this is printed on the console
fd.close() # to not forget to close your file