Question : How can I decode UTF characters from a file using Python?

Hello,

I understand that Python cannot read or write UTF characters by default and I have managed to resolve this using the code in line 1 of the code section.

I would now like to know the simpliest way to decode these characters, given the simple function for reading files in the code section?

Many thanks

Code Snippet:

         
             filetowrite.write(message.encode("utf-8"))
 
def readfile(readfilename):
    openfile = open(readfilename, "r")
    file_contents = openfile.read()
    #print file_contents
    openfile.close()
    return file_contents

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Answer : How can I decode UTF characters from a file using Python?

If you use the codecs module, you can use a wrapped version of a file object that transparently encodes when writing and decodes when reading.

                       
             import codecs
 
def readfile(readfilename):
    openfile = codecs.open(readfilename, "r", "utf-8")
    file_contents = openfile.read() # This is a unicode string
	print file_contents
    openfile.close()
    return file_contents

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