r for reading
r+ opens for reading and writing (cannot truncate a file)
w for writing
w+ for writing and reading (can truncate a file)
rb for reading a binary file. The file pointer is placed at the beginning of the file.
rb+ reading or writing a binary file
wb+ writing a binary file
a+ opens for appending
ab+ Opens a file for both appending and reading in binary. The file pointer is at the end of the file if the file exists. The file opens in the append mode.
x open for exclusive creation, failing if the file already exists (Python 3)

#there are many modes you can open files in. r means read.
file = open('C:\Users\yourname\files\file.txt','r')
text = file.read()

#you can write a string to it, too!
file = open('C:\Users\yourname\files\file.txt','w')
file.write('This is a typical string')

#don't forget to close it afterwards!
file.close()