I stumbled upon the post, which tells that w+ can truncate a file, whereas r+ file mode can not.
I am having difficulties understanding what truncate means and what file.truncate() does.
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Possible duplicate of [Confused by python file mode "w+"](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16208206/confused-by-python-file-mode-w) – Patrick Artner Mar 11 '18 at 17:29
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The answers to the dupe are far more enlightening then your self answer - see if they clarify things for you and consider closing this question. – Patrick Artner Mar 11 '18 at 17:30
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In crude terms, truncate is about removal of the text from your file starting from the current position until the end of the file.
Assume a file has 5 lines:
file.readline() # reads the first line
file.truncate() # removes the lines 2 through 5.
file.readline() # returns '' since lines have been deleted
file.seek(0) # moves the cursor to the start of the file
file.readline() # reads the first line again
Eduard
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If this is intended to be a self-answered question - this isn't even a correct answer... – Jon Clements Mar 11 '18 at 16:12
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3@JonClements you are always welcome to provide a better one and downvote anything you don't like – Eduard Mar 11 '18 at 16:14