because leaving the with-block calls the object's __exit__() function https://peps.python.org/pep-0343/ which for a filehandle is equivalent to a close() https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#object.__exit__ so after you jump out of the with-block's indent, the file handle's close function has been called and it's no longer readable Answer from eruciform on reddit.com
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Python
docs.python.org › 3 › library › csv.html
csv — CSV File Reading and Writing
The csv module’s reader and writer objects read and write sequences. Programmers can also read and write data in dictionary form using the DictReader and DictWriter classes.
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University of Washington
courses.cs.washington.edu › courses › cse160 › 22au › computing › csv-parsing.html
How to parse csv formatted files using csv.DictReader
Your Python code must import the csv library. ... Open the file by calling open as we usually do on a file and then call csv.DictReader.
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Veerpal Brar
veerpalbrar.github.io › blog › 2016 › 08 › 05 › Reading-CSV-Files-with-Python
Reading CSV files with Python
August 5, 2016 - Say, for example, you want to print the first column of every row, which holds the data ID. Then you have to do the following with csv.reader: ... As you can see, with DictReader you have to use key’s rather then indexes. This makes the code more readable as it is clear what data you are accessing.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnpython › when using reader or dictreader from the csv module, why do you need to access the return value while the file is still open?
r/learnpython on Reddit: When using reader or DictReader from the csv module, why do you need to access the return value while the file is still open?
August 7, 2023 -

Ok, this will make more sense. Why does this work:

import csv

with open('test.csv') as csv_file:
    csv_reader = csv.DictReader(csv_file)
    for row in csv_reader:
        print(row)

But this gives an error that the file is closed:

import csv

with open('test.csv') as csv_file:
    csv_reader = csv.DictReader(csv_file)

for row in csv_reader:
    print(row)

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "c:\Users\John\Documents\Python\test_project\test2.py", line 5, in <module> for row in csv_reader: File "C:\Users\John\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python311\Lib\csv.py", line 110, in next self.fieldnames File "C:\Users\John\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python311\Lib\csv.py", line 97, in fieldnames self._fieldnames = next(self.reader) ^ 
ValueError: I/O operation on closed file.

Does DictReader (and also reader) not just run once and return a value? Why is csv_file being accessed after the line it's used in?

Thanks!

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Medium
medium.com › @3valuedlogic › using-python-csv-3-dictreader-e4814ce2e44
Using Python CSV #3 — DictReader
December 22, 2022 - Fieldnames are either explicitly specified or are the first row of the csv. Our fieldnames should be the first row (the header): ‘name’, ‘age’, and ‘account’. These should map to the name, age, and account size of each person. Let’s check by printing out each dictionary. We can do this by printing each item in the DictReader object:
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Python Beginners
python-adv-web-apps.readthedocs.io › en › latest › csv.html
CSV Files — Python Beginners documentation
The code above will print 46 lines, ... a for-loop to read from all rows in the CSV. Close the file. The csv.DictReader() method is used to convert a CSV file to a Python dictionary....
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Brodan
brodan.biz › blog › parsing-csv-files-with-python
Parsing CSV Files with Python's DictReader
August 24, 2018 - The DictReader class basically creates a CSV object that behaves like a Python OrderedDict. It works by reading in the first line of the CSV and using each comma separated value in this line as a dictionary key.
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DEV Community
dev.to › thumbone › dumping-data-with-pythons-csv-dictwriter-1g0
Dumping Data with Python's CSV DictWriter - DEV Community
May 16, 2025 - The DictWriter lets you write CSV files very neatly and semantically by defining each row as a Python dict.
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Note.nkmk.me
note.nkmk.me › home › python
Read and Write CSV Files in Python | note.nkmk.me
August 6, 2023 - with open('data/src/sample.csv') as f: print(f.read()) # 11,12,13,14 # 21,22,23,24 # 31,32,33,34 with open('data/src/sample.csv') as f: reader = csv.DictReader(f, fieldnames=['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']) for row in reader: print(row) # {'a': '11', 'b': '12', 'c': '13', 'd': '14'} # {'a': '21', 'b': '22', 'c': '23', 'd': '24'} # {'a': '31', 'b': '32', 'c': '33', 'd': '34'} ... The index column is not specially processed. If you wish to exclude it, you can remove it using the pop() method, as demonstrated below. Remove an item from a dictionary in Python (clear, pop, popitem, del)
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › pandas › using-csv-module-to-read-the-data-in-pandas
Using csv module to read the data in Pandas - GeeksforGeeks
August 5, 2021 - # importing the csv module import csv # Now let's read the file named 'auto-mpg.csv' # After reading as a dictionary convert # it to Python's list with open('auto-mpg.csv') as csvfile: mpg_data = list(csv.DictReader(csvfile)) # Let's visualize the data # We are printing only first three elements print(mpg_data[:3])
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › python › python_file_handling.asp
Python File Open
W3Schools offers free online tutorials, references and exercises in all the major languages of the web. Covering popular subjects like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL, Java, and many, many more.
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AskPython
askpython.com › home › python csv module – read and write to csv files
Python CSV Module - Read and Write to CSV Files - AskPython
August 6, 2022 - If you want the exact column_name: row_name mapping, we can use the csv.DictReader class and get a Dictionary instead!
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Python
docs.python.org › 3 › library › json.html
json — JSON encoder and decoder
Source code: Lib/json/__init__.py JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), specified by RFC 7159(which obsoletes RFC 4627) and by ECMA-404, is a lightweight data interchange format inspired by JavaScript...
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Cs205uiuc
cs205uiuc.github.io › guidebook › python › csv.html
Reading a CSV File
f = open("fileName.csv") reader = csv.DictReader(f) data = [row for row in reader]
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Plain English
python.plainenglish.io › how-to-read-csv-files-with-python-a6c4a0b9f8ea
How To Read CSV Files With Python | by Francisco Luna | Python in Plain English
December 8, 2022 - import csv with open("automobile_data.csv", "r") as file: reader = csv.DictReader(file) for row in reader: print(row["num_of_doors"], row["fuel_type"]) Using the with keyword, we don’t have to close our file deliberately, our context manager takes care of that. Then the DictReader method works as a… ... New Python content every day.
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Gadzmo
gadzmo.com › python › reading and writing csv files with python dictreader and dictwriter
Reading and Writing CSV Files with Python DictReader and DictWriter - Gadzmo
August 16, 2012 - import csv test_file = 'test.csv' csv_file = csv.DictReader(open(test_file, 'rb'), delimiter=',', quotechar='"') You can now parse through the data as a normal array. for line in csv_file: print line['age'] 24 26 33 21
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DigitalOcean
digitalocean.com › community › tutorials › parse-csv-files-in-python
How to Parse CSV Files in Python | DigitalOcean
August 4, 2022 - CSV files are used a lot in storing tabular data into a file. We can easily export data from database tables or excel files to CSV files. It’s also easy to read by humans as well as in the program. In this tutorial, we will learn how to parse CSV files in Python.
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Analytics Vidhya
analyticsvidhya.com › home › read csv files in python
Read CSV Files in Python - Analytics Vidhya
January 9, 2026 - To create a dictionary, you use the dict() method with specified keys and values. If you’re working with CSV files in Python, the csv module’s .DictReader comes in handy for reading them.