Python readline ignoring header in csv file

Question

I've written some code that is supposed to be aware of if a CSV file exists and append to it if it's the right format, or erase it and create a new file.

The part where it checks if the format is correct (by checking the CSV headers to see if they are equal) is not working, because for some weird reason the readline() function is ignoring the headers (which should be the first line of the CSV file.

Do note that I don't want to use extra dependencies such as Pandas.

    import os, csv

    path = 'intent_outputs.csv'
    response = {'query':'eggs', 'header':'eggs', 'fulfillmentText':'are tasty', 'buttontext':'VISIT PAGE', 'buttonurl':'eggs.com', 'contextbuttontext':'eggs', 'contextbuttonurl':'eggs.com'}
    output = open(path, 'a')
    csv_columns = ['Query', 'Header', 'Text', 'Button Text', 'Button URL', 'Context Button Text', 'Context Button URL']
    writer = csv.DictWriter(output, fieldnames=csv_columns)
    if not os.path.exists(path):
        print("DOES NOT EXIST")
        output = open(path, 'w')
    else:
        print("EXISTS")
        output = open(path, 'r')
    if(output.readline() != ",".join(csv_columns)):
        print("NOT EQUAL")
        try:
            output = open(path, 'w')
            writer.writeheader()
        except IOError:
            print("IOError")
    else:
        print("EQUAL")
        output = open(path, 'a')
    try:
        row = {'Query':response['query'], 'Header':response['header'], 'Text':response['fulfillmentText'], 'Button Text':response['buttontext'], 'Button URL':response['buttonurl'], 'Context Button Text':response['contextbuttontext'], 'Context Button URL':response['contextbuttonurl']}
        writer.writerow(row)
    except IOError:
        print("I/O error") 

Here's Johnny intent_outputs.csv:

Query,Header,Text,Button Text,Button URL,Context Button Text,Context Button URL
eggs,eggs,are tasty,VISIT PAGE,eggs.com,eggs,eggs.com

I want to read the first line (starting with "Query....") but it's being actively ignored.

Answer 1

Ended up solving this myself. So I rewrote the function to not rely on the opened files, and apart from some extra logic bugs in the code above, the script below works perfectly as intended.

@Suitsense's answer made me aware of the \n that readline() adds at the end, so thank you!

    path = 'intent_outputs.csv'
    response = {'query':'eggs', 'header':'eggs', 'fulfillmentText':'are tasty', 'buttontext':'VISIT PAGE', 'buttonurl':'eggs.com', 'contextbuttontext':'eggs', 'contextbuttonurl':'eggs.com'}
    csv_columns = ['Query', 'Header', 'Text', 'Button Text', 'Button URL', 'Context Button Text', 'Context Button URL']
    output = ""
    writer = ""
    try:
        output = open(path,'x')
    except FileExistsError:
        output = open(path,'r')
    if(open(path,'r').readline() != ",".join(csv_columns)+"\n"):
        try:
            output = open(path, 'w')
            writer = csv.DictWriter(output, fieldnames=csv_columns)
            writer.writeheader()
        except IOError:
            print("IOError: Couldn't write header")
    else:
        output = open(path, 'a')
        writer = csv.DictWriter(output, fieldnames=csv_columns)
    row = {'Query':response['query'], 'Header':response['header'], 'Text':response['fulfillmentText'], 'Button Text':response['buttontext'], 'Button URL':response['buttonurl'], 'Context Button Text':response['contextbuttontext'], 'Context Button URL':response['contextbuttonurl']}
    writer.writerow(row)