from sys import argv script, filename = argv print(f"We're going to erase {filename}.") print("If you don't want that, hit CTRL-C (^C).") print("If you do want that, hit RETURN.") input("?") print("Opening the file....") target = open(filename, 'w') print("Truncating the file. Goodbye!") #target.truncate() print("Now I'm going to ask you for three lines.") line1 = input("line 1: ") line2 = input("line 2: ") line3 = input("line 3: ") print("I'm going to write these to the file.") target.write(line1 + "\n" + line2 + "\n" + line3 + "\n") print("And finally, we close it.") target.close() text = open(filename) print(text.read()) # 4. You are specificing writing to a file as opposed to reading from it. # 5. You don't need it, 'w' overwrites the file.