PYTHON: reading list from file

i'm storing animals spiecies' names inside a file, one name in a line, and i'd like to read them from file into a list.

1. Why isn't the function "read_from_file()" working?
2. Is there an option to modify the list globally in other way than in function "working_func()"
3. Is the function "func_return()" a proper substitute to the case 2.?

Here's the code:

test_file.txt:
dog
horse
spider

from pathlib import Path

def read_from_file(values):
    path = Path('test_file.txt')
    file_contents = path.read_text()
    values = file_contents.split()

def working_func():
    global animals
    path = Path('test_file.txt')
    file_contents = path.read_text()
    animals = file_contents.split()

def func_return():
    path = Path('test_file.txt')
    file_contents = path.read_text()
    values = file_contents.split()
    return values

animals = []

read_from_file(animals)
read_from_file(animals)
print(animals) #[]

working_func()
print(animals) #['dog', 'horse', 'spider']

animals = func_return()
print(animals) #['dog', 'horse', 'spider']

i'd like to find out what is the most efficient and common way to do such task

Consider passing the filepath as an argument rather than coding that into the function. Here is one example:

import os

test_data_path = "./test_data.txt"

def read_from_file(filepath):
    animals = []
    with open(filepath) as f:
        lines = f.readlines()
        for line in lines:
            animals.append(line.strip())
    return animals

animals = read_from_file(test_data_path)
print(animals)

Returns:

['dog', 'horse', 'spider']

Basically, you just don't return anything in read_from_file(). It reads from files, stores values ​​in values, but when exiting the function, this variable goes out of scope.

Your working_func() function uses the global keyword, which means
that this variable is in global scope and stores a value in a global variable that can be retrieved from anywhere in your code after calling your function.

func_return() returns the value that is assigned to the variable animals on line 28, so this means that "animals - is all that func_return() returns".

More about returns