using for-loop on a function that opens a file

Question

I'm very new to programming/python so I have some trouble understanding in which order different operations should be performed for optimal usage. I wrote a script that takes a long list of words and searches different files for bits of text that contain these words and returns the result but it is not very fast at the moment.

What I think I first need to optimize is the code listed below. Is there a more resource efficient way to write the following code:

ListofStuff = ["blabla", "singer", "dinger"]

def FindinFile(FindStuff):
    with open(File, encoding="utf-8") as TargetFile:
        for row in TargetFile:
            # search whole file for FindStuff and return chunkoftext as result

def EditText(result):
    #do some text editing to result
    print edited text


for key in ListofStuff:
    EditText(FindinFile(key))

Does (with open) here open the file each time I rerun the function FindinFile in the for-loop at the end? Or does (with-open) keep the file in the buffer until the script is finished?

Answer 1

You have to assume that variable is valid and exists in the same scope in which it was defined. It was defined in a with clause, so it ceases to exist once you exit this clause (and function) - so yes, file is reopened every that time (unless there's some optimization, which is unlikely in this case, though).