Django filename from database with non-ascii characters

Question

I'm trying to create a file dynamically in Django:

response = HttpResponse(mimetype='text/txt')
response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=%s' % filename # UnicodeEncodeError

response.write('text')

return response

If I hardcode the filename it works properly, but if I try to create the filename from DB data that contains non-ascii characters (like ó) I get a UnicodeEncodeError exception. How can I use the DB filename without getting an exception?

Does this answer your question? [How to encode UTF8 filename for HTTP headers? (Python, Django)](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1361604/how-to-encode-utf8-filename-for-http-headers-python-django) — Boris Verkhovskiy, Nov 23 '20 at 20:29

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 04 '09 at 15:46

4

from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
...

 response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=%s' % smart_str(filename)

answered Dec 04 '09 at 15:46

slav0nic

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but not all utf symbols can be converted ;) – slav0nic Dec 04 '09 at 15:54

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

3

You can fix the problem on the Django side but there is no guarantee it will work in all browsers.

See the testcases at http://greenbytes.de/tech/tc2231/.

For more details on this see this question, which links to a snippet to handle most cases.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

Community

1
1

answered Dec 04 '09 at 12:27

John Keyes

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10 years later, the "no guarantee it will work in all browsers" is longer true I think. – Boris Verkhovskiy Nov 23 '20 at 20:31

Django filename from database with non-ascii characters

2 Answers2