_csv.Error: iterator should return strings, not bytes (did you open the file in text mode?) [duplicate]

Question

At the start of my csv program:

import csv     # imports the csv module
import sys      # imports the sys module

f = open('Address Book.csv', 'rb') # opens the csv file
try:
    reader = csv.reader(f)  # creates the reader object
    for row in reader:   # iterates the rows of the file in orders
        print (row)    # prints each row
finally:
    f.close()      # closing

And the error is:

    for row in reader:   # iterates the rows of the file in orders
_csv.Error: iterator should return strings, not bytes (did you open the file in text mode?)

Aaron Hall · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-08 14:36:28Z

15

Instead of this (and the rest):

f = open('Address Book.csv', 'rb')

Do this:

with open('Address Book.csv', 'r') as f:
    reader = csv.reader(f) 
    for row in reader:
        print(row)

The context manager means you don't need the finally: f.close(), because it will automatically close the file on an error, or on exiting the context.

edited Jan 8, 2017 at 14:36

answered Mar 18, 2014 at 0:14

Aaron Hall♦

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2 Comments

Mia Over a year ago

will this work for Python 3 version

Aaron Hall Over a year ago

@anj yes, yes it will.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:45:49Z

2

The solution in this (duplicate?) question csv.Error: iterator should return strings, not bytes helped me:

f = open('Address Book.csv', "rt")

or

with open('Address Book.csv', "rt") as f:

or (using gzip)

import gzip
f = gzip.open('Address Book.csv', "rt")

or

import gzip
gzip.open('Address Book.csv', "rt") as f:

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:45

CommunityBot

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answered Aug 20, 2014 at 19:46

Garren S

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