I have the following code:

import re
#open the xml file for reading:
file = open('path/test.xml','r+')
#convert to string:
data = file.read()
file.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>",data))
file.close()

where I’d like to replace the old content that’s in the file with the new content. However, when I execute my code, the file “test.xml” is appended, i.e. I have the old content follwed by the new “replaced” content. What can I do in order to delete the old stuff and only keep the new?

You need seek to the beginning of the file before writing and then use file.truncate() if you want to do inplace replace:

import re

myfile = "path/test.xml"

with open(myfile, "r+") as f:
    data = f.read()
    f.seek(0)
    f.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>", r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", data))
    f.truncate()

The other way is to read the file then open it again with open(myfile, 'w'):

with open(myfile, "r") as f:
    data = f.read()

with open(myfile, "w") as f:
    f.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>", r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", data))

Neither truncate nor open(..., 'w') will change the inode number of the file (I tested twice, once with Ubuntu 12.04 NFS and once with ext4).

By the way, this is not really related to Python. The interpreter calls the corresponding low level API. The method truncate() works the same in the C programming language: See http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/truncate.2.html

file='path/test.xml' 
with open(file, 'w') as filetowrite:
    filetowrite.write('new content')

Open the file in ‘w’ mode, you will be able to replace its current text save the file with new contents.

Using truncate(), the solution could be

import re
#open the xml file for reading:
with open('path/test.xml','r+') as f:
    #convert to string:
    data = f.read()
    f.seek(0)
    f.write(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>",data))
    f.truncate()

import os#must import this library
if os.path.exists('TwitterDB.csv'):
        os.remove('TwitterDB.csv') #this deletes the file
else:
        print("The file does not exist")#add this to prevent errors

I had a similar problem, and instead of overwriting my existing file using the different ‘modes’, I just deleted the file before using it again, so that it would be as if I was appending to a new file on each run of my code.

See from How to Replace String in File works in a simple way and is an answer that works with replace

fin = open("data.txt", "rt")
fout = open("out.txt", "wt")

for line in fin:
    fout.write(line.replace('pyton', 'python'))

fin.close()
fout.close()

Using python3 pathlib library:

import re
from pathlib import Path
import shutil

shutil.copy2("/tmp/test.xml", "/tmp/test.xml.bak") # create backup
filepath = Path("/tmp/test.xml")
content = filepath.read_text()
filepath.write_text(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", content))

Similar method using different approach to backups:

from pathlib import Path

filepath = Path("/tmp/test.xml")
filepath.rename(filepath.with_suffix('.bak')) # different approach to backups
content = filepath.read_text()
filepath.write_text(re.sub(r"<string>ABC</string>(\s+)<string>(.*)</string>",r"<xyz>ABC</xyz>\1<xyz>\2</xyz>", content))