How can a Python file be closed even when processing raises an exception?

Resource release must follow the operation’s lifetime, including exceptional exits. Relying on garbage collection makes that timing implicit. Use with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as handle: and perform reading inside the context. For multiple optional resources, contextlib.ExitStack can manage the cleanup stack. Test a forced exception after opening and confirm the handle is closed. A context manager can intentionally suppress exceptions, so inspect custom implementations rather than assuming every with block propagates errors. Closing a file flushes buffered writes but is not by itself a guarantee that data has reached durable storage after a power failure.