"Unicode error "when trying to connect to microsoft SQL server 19

Question

I am trying to use the Microsoft SQL server as my database of django project but when I am trying to connect it it give me a SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 9-10: truncated \uXXXX escape . The issue is with 'USER': 'INDIANLEO\user',.

Here is the database connection

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'sql_server.pyodbc',
        'NAME': 'ENR',
        'HOST': 'INDIANLEO',
        'USER': 'INDIANLEO\user',
        'PASSWORD': '',

        'OPTIONS': {
            'driver': 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server',
        }
    }
}

Here is the server name and details:

Does this answer your question? [“Unicode Error ”unicodeescape" codec can't decode bytes… Cannot open text files in Python 3](https://stackoverflow.com/q/1347791/2029983) — Thom A, Feb 08 '21 at 12:35
Side note, when using a trusted connection, you don't pass the username and password though; so the user and password options shouldn't even be there (and thus the error will disappear and there won't be a unicode escape codec). — Thom A, Feb 08 '21 at 12:36
See my second [comment](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66101720/unicode-error-when-trying-to-connect-to-microsoft-sql-server-19#comment116867218_66101720). — Thom A, Feb 08 '21 at 12:37
To quote myself... *"so the user and password options **shouldn't even be there**"* — Thom A, Feb 08 '21 at 12:38

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 26 '21 at 23:47

It's because of the backslash in your username. Python interprets \u as a special character instead of \ then u.

You should provide a raw string r"INDIANLEO\user" or double backslashes INDIANLEO\\user.

Any way, you should use a trusted connection so that the connection uses the process security context to authenticate, so that you wouldn't need to provide the credentials yourself.

"Unicode error "when trying to connect to microsoft SQL server 19

1 Answers1