Error while reading a csv file by using csv module in python3

Question

When I am trying to read a csv file I am getting this type of error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/root/Downloads/csvafa.py", line 4, in <module>
    for i in a:
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/codecs.py", line 322, in decode
    (result, consumed) = self._buffer_decode(data, self.errors, final)
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x8b in position 1: invalid start byte

The code that i used:

import csv
with open('Book1.csv') as f:
    a=csv.reader(f)
    for i in a:
        print(i)

i even tried to change the encoding to latin1:

import csv
with open('Book1.csv',encoding='latin1') as f:
    a=csv.reader(f)
    for i in a:
        print(i)

After that i am getting this type of error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/root/Downloads/csvafa.py", line 4, in <module>
    for i in a:
_csv.Error: line contains NUL

I am a beginner to python

Get a good text editor. For example sublime, and there should be a save with code page option. Select utf-8 codepage. — Simon O'Doherty
– Simon O'Doherty, Commented Sep 6, 2020 at 8:33

Dharman · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-06 05:51:16Z

1

This error is raised when we try to encode an invalid string. When Unicode string can’t be represented in this encoding (UTF-8), python raises a UnicodeEncodeError. You can try encoding: 'latin-1' or 'iso-8859-1'.

import pandas as pd
dataset = pd.read_csv('Book1.csv', encoding='ISO-8859–1')

It can also be that the data is compressed. Have a look at this answer.

edited Sep 6, 2020 at 5:51

Dharman♦

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answered Sep 6, 2020 at 5:46

Nutan

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Comments

kaki gadol · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-06 05:15:00Z

0

I would try reading the file in utf-8 enconding

another solution might be this answer

It's still most likely gzipped data. gzip's magic number is 0x1f 0x8b, which is consistent with the UnicodeDecodeError you get.

You could try decompressing the data on the fly:
  with open('destinations.csv', 'rb') as fd:
       gzip_fd = gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=fd)
      destinations = pd.read_csv(gzip_fd)

answered Sep 6, 2020 at 5:15

kaki gadol

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