The codec can't decode bytes in Python

Question

This is my code, but the result is not what I want,

def read_message():

   quotes = open("C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\movie_quotes.txt")
   read_file = quotes.read()
   print(read_file)
   quotes.close()

read_message()

The result shows that:

File "E:/Python/p1/send_message.py", line 4
quotes = open("C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\movie_quotes.txt")
             ^
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape

And I do not understand the exact meaning. My python version is 3.5.3.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 27 '17 at 12:02

2

You need to use a raw string, double your slashes or use forward slashes instead:

r'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\movie_quotes.txt' 'C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\movie_quotes.txt' 'C:/Users/Administrator/Desktop/movie_quotes.txt'

answered Sep 27 '17 at 12:02

Alen Jacob

170
1
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None of these works for me. – Outcast Jun 20 '18 at 21:28

ivan_pozdeev · Answer 2 · 2017-09-27T13:17:42.730

1

You have a SyntaxError. That means the error is in your source code itself, not something that happens during its execution.

In your code, "\U" in "\Users" is interpreted as a start of a long Unicode literal. Double the backslashes or use a raw string literal to fix that as others suggested.

edited Sep 27 '17 at 13:17

answered Sep 27 '17 at 12:05

ivan_pozdeev

33,874
19
107
152

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 27 '17 at 12:02

0

You have to use double slashes, like so :

quotes = open("C:\\Users\\Administrator\\Desktop\\movie_quotes.txt"),

OR forward slashes:

quotes = open("C:/Users/Administrator/Desktop/movie_quotes.txt")

answered Sep 27 '17 at 12:02

Milan Velebit

1,933
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That wouldn't cause a "unicode error". – ivan_pozdeev Sep 27 '17 at 12:02
It would most certainly. – Milan Velebit Sep 27 '17 at 12:08

The codec can't decode bytes in Python

3 Answers3