typeerror: ‘_io.textiowrapper’ object is not subscriptable

In this tutorial, we will discuss on how to solve the typeerror io textiowrapper object is not subscriptable.

Also, you will learn What are the causes of the error and Why this error occurs.

Why this error _io textiowrapper object is not subscriptable occur?

This error _io textiowrapper object is not subscriptable usually occurs because when you’re trying to access the exact index or the key of an input.output file object 12. Like a text file that you may have opened in Python.

What are the causes of the error?

The typeerror: _io.textiowrapper object is not subscriptable typically occurs if you try to access a specific character or element of a file object using square brackets [], which is the subscript operator.

This is not allowed because file objects are not subscriptable.

Here are some common errors:

  • Trying to access a specific character in a file object.
  • Trying to access a specific line in a file object.
  • Trying to convert a file object to a list using list().
  • Passing a file object to a function that expects a string.

For example: Let’s say you have a text file named “example.txt” and you want to read the first character of the file:

file = open("example.txt", "r")
first_char = file[0]

The output will raise an error:

C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\venv\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\main.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\main.py”, line 2, in
first_char = file[0]
TypeError: ‘_io.TextIOWrapper’ object is not subscriptable

In this example code, it will attempt to read the first character of a text file named “example.txt”.

Assign it to the variable first_char. However, it will raise a TypeError with the message “_io.TextIOWrapper object is not subscriptable”.

Because the file object file is not subscriptable, it means you cannot access its elements or characters using square brackets.

Also, read the other python error resolved:

How to solve the error _io textiowrapper object is not subscriptable?

Now that you already understand the causes of the error.

Next, we will provide solutions on how to solve the error _io textiowrapper object is not subscriptable.

Solution 1: Using the read() method

The first solution to solve this error we will use the read() method to read the contents of the file into a string.

In this example, it will read the first character in the file example.txt which is the letter T.

file = open('example.txt', 'r')
contents = file.read()
first_char = contents[0]
print(first_char)

Output:

C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\venv\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\main.py
T

The code opens a file called “example.txt” in read mode using the open() function and assigns the resulting file object to the variable file.

Then it reads the entire contents of the file as a string using the read() method of the file object and assigns the resulting string to the variable contents.

Finally, it accesses the first character of the string using indexing and assigns it to the variable first_char.

Solution 2: Using the readlines() method

The second solution is to read the contents of the file into a list using the readlines() method to solve the error.

For example, we will read the whole content in the file “example.txt”:

file = open('example.txt', 'r')
lines = file.readlines()
first_line = lines[0]
print(first_line)

Output:

C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\venv\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\main.py
To solve the ‘_io.textiowrapper’ object is not subscriptable we will used the readlines() method.

This code opens a file named “example.txt” in read-only mode and assigns the contents of the file to the variable ‘file’.

It then reads all the lines of the file and assigns them to the variable ‘lines’.

The code then extracts the first line from the ‘lines’ variable and assigns it to the variable ‘first_line’.

Finally, the code prints the value of the ‘first_line’ variable, which is the first line of the ‘example.txt’ file.

Solution 3: Using the the loop() method to read the file

The third solution to solve this error is to read the contents of a file line by line in Python, you can use a loop that iterates over the file object.

Here’s an example:

with open('example.txt', 'r') as file:
    for line in file:
        print(line)

Output:

C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\venv\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\main.py
To solve the ‘_io.textiowrapper’ object is not subscriptable we will used the loop method.

In this example, the open() function is used to open the file “example.txt” in read mode, and the resulting file object is assigned to the variable file.

The with statement is used to make sure that the file is perfectly closed when the block of code inside the with statement is finished executing.

The loop then iterates over the file object using the for statement.

Each iteration of the loop reads a single line from the file and assigns it to the variable line.

The print() function is then called to print the contents of line to the console.

This code will read the contents of the file “example.txt” line by line and print each line to the console.

Solution 4: Using the list comprehension method

The last solution solve the error is using a list comprehension to read the contents of the file into a list of strings.

For example:

file = open('example.txt', 'r')
lines = [line.strip() for line in file]
first_line = lines[0]
print(first_line)

Output:

C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\venv\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\Dell\PycharmProjects\pythonProject\main.py
To solve the ‘_io.textiowrapper’ object is not subscriptable we will used the list comprehension method.

This code reads the contents of a text file named “example.txt” and prints the first line of the file.

Here’s what each line of the code means:

  • file = open(‘example.txt’, ‘r’)
    • This opens the file “example.txt” in read mode and assigns the file object to the variable file.
  • lines = [line.strip() for line in file]
    • This reads each line of the file into a list of strings called lines.
    • The strip() method is used to remove any leading or trailing whitespace from each line.
  • first_line = lines[0]
    • This assigns the first element of the lines list (which corresponds to the first line of the file) to the variable first_line.
  • print(first_line)
    • This prints the first line of the file to the console.

Note: Remember to always double-check your code and variable assignments, use appropriate methods for file objects, and handle errors carefully using try-except blocks. With these tips in mind, you can run smoothly your program in Python.

Conclusion

In conclusion, In this article we’ve already discussed the causes and why this error occurs.

Also, we provide the four solutions to resolve the typeerror: ‘_io.textiowrapper’ object is not subscriptable error.

We hope that the solutions above will be able to help you to resolved the error you encountered.

FAQs

What does the Typeerror: ‘_io.textiowrapper’ object is not subscriptable error mean?

The Typeerror: ‘_io.textiowrapper’ object is not subscriptable error means that you are trying to use index notation on an object that is not subscriptable, such as a file object.