Get unicode error when attempting to save file

Question

I am trying to save a python-docx document in Ubuntu, but I get this error: 'ascii' codec can't encode character '\xed' in position 65: ordinal not in range(128). I tried to apply this solution, but I get this other error: AttributeError: 'bytes' object has no attribute 'write'.

This is the code that raised the first error:

current_directory = settings.MEDIA_DIR
file_name = "Rooming {} {}-{}.docx".format(hotel, start_date, end_date)
document.save(current_directory + file_name)

This is the code that raised the latest error:

current_directory = settings.MEDIA_DIR
file_name = "Rooming {} {}-{}.docx".format(hotel, start_date, end_date)
document.save((current_directory + file_name).encode('utf-8'))

I know the file name will end having non standard ascii characters, but I would like to be able to save the files using all those characters.

try using `file_name = r"Rooming {} {}-{}.docx".format(hotel, start_date, end_date)` — sahasrara62, Dec 27 '18 at 23:36
That example was for python 2.x, and I suspect you are using 3.x. What does `sys.getfilesystemencoding()` say? Also, consider adding an example of your first try so we can keep them separate In fact, that second one could be removed completely. — tdelaney, Dec 27 '18 at 23:53
@tdelaney I added the code for the first try. `sys.getfilesystemconding()` returns `'utf-8'` — HuLu ViCa, Dec 28 '18 at 00:13
@HugoLuisVillalobosCanto have you tried this? [Working with utf-8 encoding in Python source](https://stackoverflow.com/a/6289494/1248974) — chickity china chinese chicken, Dec 28 '18 at 00:23
Try `docx.Document().save(file_name)` - that will narrow the problem to the file name or the document itself. — tdelaney, Dec 28 '18 at 00:38

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 10 '19 at 16:02

The problem raised because in Spanish we use some characters modifiers that are not standard (áéíóúüñ), and I was trying to form the name of the file with some data that includes such characters. I guess there must be a way to configure the server so this wouldn't be an issue, but I took the short path and changed the special characters for their standard base character:

current_directory = settings.MEDIA_DIR
file_name = "Rooming {} {}-{}.docx".format(unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', hotel).encode('ascii', 'ignore').decode('ascii'), start_date, end_date)
document.save(current_directory + file_name)

This method replaces characters like this: áéíóúüñÁÉÍÓÚÜÑ -> aeiouunAEIOUUN.

The error desaparead.

Get unicode error when attempting to save file

1 Answers1