IPython Notebook locale error

Question

After installing the latest Mac OSX 64-bit Anaconda Python distribution, I keep getting a ValueError when trying to start the IPython Notebook.

Starting ipython works fine:

3-millerc-~:ipython
Python 2.7.3 |Anaconda 1.4.0 (x86_64)| (default, Feb 25 2013, 18:45:56) 
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

IPython 0.13.1 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
?         -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
%quickref -> Quick reference.
help      -> Python's own help system.
object?   -> Details about 'object', use 'object??' for extra details.

But starting ipython notebook:

4-millerc-~:ipython notebook

Results in the ValueError (with traceback):

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/bin/ipython", line 7, in <module>
    launch_new_instance()
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/frontend/terminal/ipapp.py", line 388, in launch_new_instance
    app.initialize()
  File "<string>", line 2, in initialize
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py", line 84, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/frontend/terminal/ipapp.py", line 313, in initialize
    super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).initialize(argv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in initialize
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py", line 84, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/core/application.py", line 325, in initialize
    self.parse_command_line(argv)
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/frontend/terminal/ipapp.py", line 308, in parse_command_line
    return super(TerminalIPythonApp, self).parse_command_line(argv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in parse_command_line
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py", line 84, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py", line 420, in parse_command_line
    return self.initialize_subcommand(subc, subargv)
  File "<string>", line 2, in initialize_subcommand
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py", line 84, in catch_config_error
    return method(app, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/config/application.py", line 352, in initialize_subcommand
    subapp = import_item(subapp)
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/utils/importstring.py", line 40, in import_item
    module = __import__(package,fromlist=[obj])
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/notebookapp.py", line 46, in <module>
    from .handlers import (LoginHandler, LogoutHandler,
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/handlers.py", line 36, in <module>
    from docutils.core import publish_string
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/docutils/core.py", line 20, in <module>
    from docutils import frontend, io, utils, readers, writers
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/docutils/frontend.py", line 41, in <module>
    import docutils.utils
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/docutils/utils/__init__.py", line 20, in <module>
    from docutils.io import FileOutput
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/docutils/io.py", line 18, in <module>
    from docutils.utils.error_reporting import locale_encoding, ErrorString, ErrorOutput
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/docutils/utils/error_reporting.py", line 47, in <module>
    locale_encoding = locale.getlocale()[1] or locale.getdefaultlocale()[1]
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/locale.py", line 503, in getdefaultlocale
    return _parse_localename(localename)
  File "/Users/millerc/anaconda/lib/python2.7/locale.py", line 435, in _parse_localename
    raise ValueError, 'unknown locale: %s' % localename
ValueError: unknown locale: UTF-8

Running the locale command from the terminal:

5-millerc-~:locale 
LANG=
LC_COLLATE="C"
LC_CTYPE="UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="C"
LC_MONETARY="C"
LC_NUMERIC="C"
LC_TIME="C"
LC_ALL=

I changed the question to be platform neutral since I strangely started having the same problem with my EPD python installation as well. — Clayton, Mar 24 '13 at 13:27

daedalus · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-17T10:56:45.353

100

I summarize here the solution to be found on: http://blog.lobraun.de/2009/04/11/mercurial-on-mac-os-x-valueerror-unknown-locale-utf-8/

I added these lines to my .bash_profile:

export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

I reloaded the profile:

source ~/.bash_profile

I then ran ipython again:

ipython notebook

Changing locales

The above will work for the English language in a US locale. One may want different settings.

At the risk of stating the obvious, to discover the current settings for your system, use:

$ locale

And to retrieve a list of all valid settings on your system:

$ locale -a

Then choose your preferred locale. For example, for a Swiss French locale, the solution would look like this:

export LC_ALL=fr_CH.UTF-8
export LANG=fr_CH.UTF-8

edited Jun 17 '16 at 10:56

answered Mar 23 '13 at 19:16

daedalus

10,873
5
50
71

Exporting LC_ALL is usually wrong. – wRAR Mar 24 '13 at 13:36
1

Of course, this fix is only correct if you live in the United States. – asmeurer Nov 15 '13 at 00:59
Your link appears to be broken. – r12 Jul 21 '15 at 22:30
It works for Spanish also: export LC_ALL=es_ES.UTF-8; export LANG=es_ES.UTF-8 – alemol May 17 '16 at 22:22
@wRAR do you have any links to references on when and when not to `export LC_ALL` ?? I'd love to know and it would help anybody. – uchuugaka Jan 28 '17 at 13:37
@uchuugaka https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30479607/explain-the-effects-of-export-lang-lc-ctype-lc-all – wRAR Jan 29 '17 at 15:19
Thanks, I found a good deal more on it. I'm still mystified why macOS fails it on some region+language settings. Frustrating. – uchuugaka Jan 30 '17 at 17:40
This was obvious in retrospect, but make sure you source the profile *in the terminal window where you run Jupyter/iPython*... – Sealander Aug 06 '17 at 20:45

asmeurer · Answer 2 · 2015-12-10T17:16:29.397

30

This is a bug in the OS X Terminal app that only shows up in certain locales (country/language combinations). Open Terminal in /Applications/Utilities and uncheck the box “Set locale environment variables on startup”.

This will set your LANG environment variable to be empty. This may cause terminal use to incorrect settings for your locale. The locale command in the Terminal will tell you what settings are used. To use the correct language, add a line to your bash profile (typically ~/.profile)

export LANG=your-lang

Replace your-lang with the correct locale specifier for your language. The command locale -a will show you all the specifiers. For example, the language code for US English is en_US.UTF-8. The locale affects what translations are used when they are available, and also how dates, currencies, and decimals are formatted.

Note, this image and content were taken from http://conda.pydata.org/docs/troubleshooting.html#unknown-locale (I'm also the original author of that page).

edited Dec 10 '15 at 17:16

answered Nov 15 '13 at 01:11

asmeurer

86,894
26
169
240

Full circle! That link you provided links to a forum which then links back to this question :) – Linus Unnebäck Dec 10 '15 at 13:40
There's a more descriptive explanation of this solution at http://conda.pydata.org/docs/troubleshooting.html#unknown-locale. – asmeurer Dec 10 '15 at 17:10
That doc page was much more helpful than what I have here, and also the link to that bug was useless, so I just updated my answer with the contents of those docs. Just unchecking the box is generally not enough. You need to set your `LANG` environment variable to the correct value for your locale. – asmeurer Dec 10 '15 at 17:15
Had to revert this fix since it broke oh-my-zsh – Linus Unnebäck Dec 11 '15 at 10:03
@LinusUnnebäck did you set `LANG`? It needs to be set to a valid locale for many things to work correctly (see my updates to this answer). – asmeurer Dec 11 '15 at 17:09
1

I do not think that this is a bug in the Terminal app: iTerm2 has the same issue. – Alexey Jul 03 '16 at 11:28
@Alexey I haven't heard of iTerm having this problem. What version are you using? – asmeurer Jul 03 '16 at 16:46
iTerm2 Build 2.1.4 – Alexey Jul 03 '16 at 19:49
The output of `locale` in Terminal and iTerm2 is identical (when locale variables are set on startup), in particular, in both i have `LC_CTYPE="UTF-8"`. – Alexey Jul 03 '16 at 19:55
Does the iTerm2 beta do better? A lot of things have been fixed with it. – asmeurer Jul 03 '16 at 20:28

score 13 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 30 '15 at 13:29

13

in iTerm going to the menu

Preferences -> Profiles -> Terminal -> (Environment)

and then unchecking

"Set locale variables automatically"

made this error go away.

edited Mar 30 '15 at 13:29

The Unfun Cat

29,987
31
114
156

answered Feb 03 '14 at 08:16

AceRymond

196
1
5

Note: This works for iTerm2 as well. – Kshitij Saraogi May 15 '17 at 13:37

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 24 '13 at 13:39

3

As your LC_CTYPE is wrong, you should find out where that wrong value is set and change it to something like en_US.UTF-8.

answered Mar 24 '13 at 13:39

wRAR

25,009
4
84
97

IPython Notebook locale error

4 Answers4

Changing locales

Linked

Related