Learn Python the Hard Way Exercise 17 Extra Question(S)

indata = open(from_file).read()

shutil is the way to do one-liner file copies in Python:

shutil.copy(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2])

Putting the import shutil, sys on the same line as this one (with a semicolon in-between, of course) would however be stylistically goofy;-).

Well you can just do "algebraic substitution," right? ...assuming you don't care about the "UI"...

open(to_file, 'w').write(open(from_file).read())