Error while importing a csv file

Question

I tried importing a csv file using

import pandas as pd
df=pd.read_csv("samle.csv")

But there is an error while importing the file :

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x89 in position 28: invalid start byte

As i looked in the csv file, it had some characters like this: � How do i rectify this error?

this may seem stupid for a comment... but could you just remove the special character? or are there multiple characters like this? — MattR
– MattR, Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 18:28

zipa · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-21 13:46:12Z

1

Did you try:

df = pd.read_csv("samle.csv", encoding='ISO-8859-1')

answered Mar 20, 2017 at 17:00

zipa

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2 Comments

@user517696, try ISO-8859-1 instead of utf-8 as that character is often associated with ISO.

@zipa Can you update your answer based on my comment? Thanks!