read a text file in jupyter notebook: UnicodeDecodeError: codec can't decode byte xx

Question

my code is so simple. in handling string on python i don't know the unicode thing. sad.

f = open("~161209.txt", "r")
f.read()

I don't know how to fix this error code is below:

UnicodeDecodeError: 'cp949' codec can't decode byte 0xec in position 121: illegal multibyte sequence

have you tried: f = open("~161209.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") ? — Jean-François Fabre
– Jean-François Fabre ♦, Commented May 31, 2017 at 13:58
it works....it is so easy.....thank you all your help. thank you — frhyme
– frhyme, Commented May 31, 2017 at 14:09
I couldn't not find a suitable duplicate for that one, hence my edit to the question to improve the title and my answer. — Jean-François Fabre
– Jean-François Fabre ♦, Commented May 31, 2017 at 14:34

Jean-François Fabre · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-31 14:25:11Z

6

Python 3 provides encoding support directly through open:

f = open("~161209.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8")

For older versions, you have to use the codecs module or io.open function.

answered May 31, 2017 at 14:25

Jean-François Fabre♦

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