The problem with closing python pypdf is writing. getting valueError: I / O operation in a closed file

Question

cannot understand this, this function (part of the class for cleaning a website in pdf) should combine a pdf file created from web pages using pypdf.

this is the method code:

def mergePdf(self,mainname,inputlist=0): """merging the pdf pages getting an inputlist to merge or defaults to the class instance self.pdftomerge list""" from pyPdf import PdfFileWriter, PdfFileReader self._mergelist = inputlist or self.pdftomerge self.pdfoutput = PdfFileWriter() for name in self._mergelist: print "merging %s into main pdf file: %s" % (name,mainname) self._filestream = file(name,"rb") self.pdfinput = PdfFileReader(self._filestream) for p in self.pdfinput.pages: self.pdfoutput.addPage(p) self._filestream.close() self._pdfstream = file(mainname,"wb") self._pdfstream.open() self.pdfoutput.write(self._pdfstream) self._pdfstream.close() 

I keep getting this error:

  File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 264, in write self._sweepIndirectReferences(externalReferenceMap, self._root) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 339, in _sweepIndirectReferences self._sweepIndirectReferences(externMap, realdata) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 315, in _sweepIndirectReferences value = self._sweepIndirectReferences(externMap, value) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 339, in _sweepIndirectReferences self._sweepIndirectReferences(externMap, realdata) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 315, in _sweepIndirectReferences value = self._sweepIndirectReferences(externMap, value) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 324, in _sweepIndirectReferences value = self._sweepIndirectReferences(externMap, data[i]) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 339, in _sweepIndirectReferences self._sweepIndirectReferences(externMap, realdata) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 315, in _sweepIndirectReferences value = self._sweepIndirectReferences(externMap, value) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 345, in _sweepIndirectReferences newobj = data.pdf.getObject(data) File "c:\tmp\easy_install-iik9vj\pyPdf-1.13-py2.7-win32.egg.tmp\pyPdf\pdf.py", line 645, in getObject self.stream.seek(start, 0) ValueError: I/O operation on closed file 

but when I check the status of self._pdfstream, I get:

 <open file 'c:\python27\learn\dive.pdf', mode 'wb' at 0x013B2020> 

what am I doing wrong?

I will be happy for any help

Answer 1

Ok, I found your problem. You were entitled to call file() . Do not try to call open() .

Your problem is that the input file should still be open when you call self.pdfoutput.write(self._pdfstream) , so you need to delete the line self._filestream.close() .

Edit: this script will cause the problem. The first record will be successful, and the second will fail.

 from pyPdf import PdfFileReader as PfR, PdfFileWriter as PfW input_filename = 'in.PDF' # replace with a real file output_filename = 'out.PDF' # something that doesn't exist infile = file(input_filename, 'rb') reader = PfR(infile) writer = PfW() writer.addPage(reader.getPage(0)) outfile = file(output_filename, 'wb') writer.write(outfile) print "First Write Successful!" infile.close() outfile.close() infile = file(input_filename, 'rb') reader = PfR(infile) writer = PfW() writer.addPage(reader.getPage(0)) outfile = file(output_filename, 'wb') infile.close() # BAD! writer.write(outfile) print "You'll get an IOError Before this line" outfile.close()