syntaxerror: unexpected character after line continuation character in python

Question

Can anybody tell me what is wrong in this program? I face

syntaxerror unexpected character after line continuation character

when I run this program:

f = open(D\\python\\HW\\2_1 - Copy.cp,"r");  
lines = f.readlines();

for i in lines:  
    thisline = i.split(" ");

unwind · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-04 11:43:52Z

12

You need to quote that filename:

f = open("D\\python\\HW\\2_1 - Copy.cp", "r")

Otherwise the bare backslash after the D is interpreted as a line-continuation character, and should be followed by a newline. This is used to extend long expressions over multiple lines, for readability:

print "This is a long",\
      "line of text",\
      "that I'm printing."

Also, you shouldn't have semicolons (;) at the end of your statements in Python.

edited May 4, 2011 at 11:43

answered May 4, 2011 at 8:45

unwind

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2 Comments

John Machin Over a year ago

-1 (1) Didn't mention missing colon (2) Backslashes not needed inside [], () and {}

unwind Over a year ago

@John Machin: Thanks, I didn't know about (2). Fixed. I didn't want to address everything in the question, but added text about semicolon since I didn't keep it in my suggested fix.

John Machin · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-04 08:47:28Z

3

Replace

f = open(D\\python\\HW\\2_1 - Copy.cp,"r");

by

f = open("D:\\python\\HW\\2_1 - Copy.cp", "r")

File path needs to be a string (constant)
need colon in Windows file path
space after comma for better style
; after statement is allowed but fugly.

What tutorial are you using?

answered May 4, 2011 at 8:47

John Machin

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2 Comments

user642564 Over a year ago

actually, 1 don't use any tutorial.just search in internet and try to understand how is programming in python

John Machin Over a year ago

Then may I suggest that you do something a bit more structured: wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide

Trect · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-02 15:05:00Z

0

The filename should be a string. In other names it should be within quotes.

f = open("D\\python\\HW\\2_1 - Copy.cp","r")
lines = f.readlines()
for i in lines:
    thisline = i.split(" ");

You can also open the file using with

with open("D\\python\\HW\\2_1 - Copy.cp","r") as f:
    lines = f.readlines()
    for i in lines:
        thisline = i.split(" ");

There is no need to add the semicolon(;) in python. It's ugly.

answered Dec 2, 2020 at 15:05

Trect

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