Opening File Using a Variable that Contains File Name Python

Question

Trying to read a pdf file thats name may change, however I have a preliminary script that contains the file name. So I successfully save that file name to a variable however when I try to open a file using that variable I get an error: "ValueError: embedded null byte"

I have tried a couple solutions for example I attempted using this solution, However I receive the same error. I have identified a work around using glob, since I can predict the file name (I know there will always be one PDF) however if possible I want to try to avoid using this solution in case in the future we have multiple PDFs to handle.

This is what I have:

pdfFileName = pdfFileName[132:220] # File path is correct, I have confirmed
objectPDF = open(pdfFileName,'rb')
pdfReader = PyPDF2.PdfFileReader(objectPDF)
pageObj = pdfReader.getPage(0)
print(pageObj.extractText())

My Error is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "verify.py", line 48, in <module>
    objectPDF = open(pdfFileName,'rb')
ValueError: embedded null byte

What I would like is for the text of the pdf to be output to the console. The error is certainly with the way I'm reading the file, if I hard type the file path in it works as expected, but not when a variable is used with the exact same value as the string.

ValueError: embedded null byte Sorry that was in my question must of accidentally removed when editing. I'll put it in. @Axium — Fletchy
– Fletchy, Commented Jul 31, 2019 at 22:14
It seems that the file name has "nulls" in it. This article: lucumr.pocoo.org/2010/12/24/common-mistakes-as-web-developer can help fix it. I'm not posting an answer because I don't know exactly how to fix it. — Axiumin_
– Axiumin_, Commented Jul 31, 2019 at 22:23
Also, try using this before objectPDF = open(pdfFileName,'rb'): pdfFileName = pdfFileName.replace('\0',''). I'm not too sure if it'll work but it's worth a try. — Axiumin_
– Axiumin_, Commented Jul 31, 2019 at 22:26

Axiumin_ · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-31 22:31:20Z

2

Place this: pdfFileName = pdfFileName.replace('\0','') before this: objectPDF = open(pdfFileName,'rb')

What that code does is that it removes all "nulls` from the string, which allows everything to run properly.

answered Jul 31, 2019 at 22:31

Axiumin_

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