You need to use a raw string, double your slashes or use forward slashes instead:
r'C:\Users\expoperialed\Desktop\Python'
'C:\\Users\\expoperialed\\Desktop\\Python'
'C:/Users/expoperialed/Desktop/Python'
In regular Python strings, the \U character combination signals an extended Unicode codepoint escape.
You can hit any number of other issues, for any of the other recognised escape sequences, such as \a, \t, or \x.
Note that as of Python 3.6, unrecognized escape sequences can trigger a DeprecationWarning (you’ll have to remove the default filter for those), and in a future version of Python, such unrecognised escape sequences will cause a SyntaxError. No specific version has been set at this time, but Python will first use SyntaxWarning in the version before it’ll be an error.
If you want to find issues like these in Python versions 3.6 and up, you can turn the warning into a SyntaxError exception by using the warnings filter error:^invalid escape sequence .*:DeprecationWarning (via a command line switch, environment variable or function call):
Python 3.10.0 (default, Oct 15 2021, 22:25:32) [Clang 13.0.0 (clang-1300.0.29.3)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import warnings
>>> '\expoperialed'
'\\expoperialed'
>>> warnings.filterwarnings('default', '^invalid escape sequence .*', DeprecationWarning)
>>> '\expoperialed'
<stdin>:1: DeprecationWarning: invalid escape sequence '\e'
'\\expoperialed'
>>> warnings.filterwarnings('error', '^invalid escape sequence .*', DeprecationWarning)
>>> '\expoperialed'
File "<stdin>", line 1
'\expoperialed'
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SyntaxError: invalid escape sequence '\e'
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In this post, you can find several solutions for:
SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape
While this error can appear in different situations the reason for the error is one and the same:
- there are special characters( escape sequence — characters starting with backslash — » ).
- From the error above you can recognize that the culprit is ‘\U’ — which is considered as unicode character.
- another possible errors for SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ will be raised for ‘\x’, ‘\u’
- codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \xXX escape
- codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \uXXXX escape
- another possible errors for SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ will be raised for ‘\x’, ‘\u’
Step #1: How to solve SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ — Double slashes for escape characters
Let’s start with one of the most frequent examples — windows paths. In this case there is a bad character sequence in the string:
import json
json_data=open("C:\Users\test.txt").read()
json_obj = json.loads(json_data)
The problem is that \U is considered as a special escape sequence for Python string. In order to resolved you need to add second escape character like:
import json
json_data=open("C:\\Users\\test.txt").read()
json_obj = json.loads(json_data)
Step #2: Use raw strings to prevent SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’
If the first option is not good enough or working then raw strings are the next option. Simply by adding r (for raw string literals) to resolve the error. This is an example of raw strings:
import json
json_data=open(r"C:\Users\test.txt").read()
json_obj = json.loads(json_data)
If you like to find more information about Python strings, literals
2.4.1 String literals
In the same link we can find:
When an r' or R’ prefix is present, backslashes are still used to quote the following character, but all backslashes are left in the string. For example, the string literal r»\n» consists of two characters: a backslash and a lowercase `n’.
Step #3: Slashes for file paths -SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’
Another possible solution is to replace the backslash with slash for paths of files and folders. For example:
«C:\Users\test.txt»
will be changed to:
«C:/Users/test.txt»
Since python can recognize both I prefer to use only the second way in order to avoid such nasty traps. Another reason for using slashes is your code to be uniform and homogeneous.
Step #4: PyCharm — SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape
The picture below demonstrates how the error will look like in PyCharm. In order to understand what happens you will need to investigate the error log.
The error log will have information for the program flow as:
/home/vanx/Software/Tensorflow/environments/venv36/bin/python3 /home/vanx/PycharmProjects/python/test/Other/temp.py
File "/home/vanx/PycharmProjects/python/test/Other/temp.py", line 3
json_data=open("C:\Users\test.txt").read()
^
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape
You can see the latest call which produces the error and click on it. Once the reason is identified then you can test what could solve the problem.
Table of Contents
Hide
- What is SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape?
- How to fix SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape?
- Solution 1 – Using Double backslash (\\)
- Solution 2 – Using raw string by prefixing ‘r’
- Solution 3 – Using forward slash
- Conclusion
The SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape occurs if you are trying to access a file path with a regular string.
In this tutorial, we will take a look at what exactly (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape means and how to fix it with examples.
The Python String literals can be enclosed in matching single quotes (‘) or double quotes (“).
String literals can also be prefixed with a letter ‘r‘ or ‘R‘; such strings are called raw strings and use different rules for backslash escape sequences.
They can also be enclosed in matching groups of three single or double quotes (these are generally referred to as triple-quoted strings).
The backslash (\) character is used to escape characters that otherwise have a special meaning, such as newline, backslash itself, or the quote character.
Now that we have understood the string literals. Let us take an example to demonstrate the issue.
import pandas
# read the file
pandas.read_csv("C:\Users\itsmycode\Desktop\test.csv")
Output
File "c:\Personal\IJS\Code\program.py", line 4
pandas.read_csv("C:\Users\itsmycode\Desktop\test.csv") ^
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escapeWe are using the single backslash in the above code while providing the file path. Since the backslash is present in the file path, it is interpreted as a special character or escape character (any sequence starting with ‘\’). In particular, “\U” introduces a 32-bit Unicode character.
How to fix SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape?
Solution 1 – Using Double backslash (\\)
In Python, the single backslash in the string is interpreted as a special character, and the character U(in users) will be treated as the Unicode code point.
We can fix the issue by escaping the backslash, and we can do that by adding an additional backslash, as shown below.
import pandas
# read the file
pandas.read_csv("C:\\Users\\itsmycode\\Desktop\\test.csv")Solution 2 – Using raw string by prefixing ‘r’
We can also escape the Unicode by prefixing r in front of the string. The r stands for “raw” and indicates that backslashes need to be escaped, and they should be treated as a regular backslash.
import pandas
# read the file
pandas.read_csv("C:\\Users\\itsmycode\\Desktop\\test.csv")Solution 3 – Using forward slash
Another easier way is to avoid the backslash and instead replace it with the forward-slash character(/), as shown below.
import pandas
# read the file
pandas.read_csv("C:/Users/itsmycode/Desktop/test.csv")
Conclusion
The SyntaxError: (unicode error) ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape occurs if you are trying to access a file path and provide the path as a regular string.
We can solve the issue by escaping the single backslash with a double backslash or prefixing the string with ‘r,’ which converts it into a raw string. Alternatively, we can replace the backslash with a forward slash.
Srinivas Ramakrishna is a Solution Architect and has 14+ Years of Experience in the Software Industry. He has published many articles on Medium, Hackernoon, dev.to and solved many problems in StackOverflow. He has core expertise in various technologies such as Microsoft .NET Core, Python, Node.JS, JavaScript, Cloud (Azure), RDBMS (MSSQL), React, Powershell, etc.
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One common error that you might encounter in Python is:
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec
can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape
This error occurs when you put a backslash and U (\U) characters in your string, which gets interpreted as the start of Unicode bytes.
This tutorial will show you an example that causes this error and how to fix it.
How to reproduce this error
Suppose you attempt to read a CSV file using pandas as shown below:
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('C:\Users\nathan\Desktop\example.csv')
print(df)
Output:
File "/Users/nsebhastian/Desktop/DEV/python/main.py", line 3
df = pd.read_csv('C:\Users\nathan\Desktop\example.csv')
^
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec
can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape
This error occurs because the specified file path contains a \U in the C:\Users, causing Python to think you’re passing Unicode bytes to decode.
This error has nothing to do with the pandas library or the CSV file, since passing another similar string to Python will trigger the error as well:
file_path = "C:\Users\nathan\Desktop\file.txt" # SyntaxError
The same error occurs when you assign a file path string to the file_path variable as shown above.
How to fix this error
There are three possible solutions to resolve this error:
- Use the forward slash
/for the path separator - Use the
rprefix to create a raw string - Use two backslashes
\\for the path separator
Let’s see how these three solutions work in practice
1. Use the forward slash / as path separator
One easy way to resolve this error is to replace the separator for the file path with a forward slash / as shown below:
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('C:/Users/nathan/Desktop/example.csv') # ✅
print(df)
By using the forward slash instead of the backslash, the path could work and you don’t receive the error.
Additionally, this solution makes your path portable and valid in Linux, Mac, and Windows systems. The other solutions may cause Python unable to find the location in Linux and Mac.
2. Use the r prefix to create a raw string
Python allows you to specify a raw string by prefixing the string with the r character.
By marking the string as raw, Python will interpret the string as is:
file_path = r"C:\Users\nathan\Desktop\file.txt"
The r prefix is added before the opening quotation mark of the string.
When you run the code, you won’t receive any errors. But keep in mind that this path won’t work in Linux and Mac systems, use the forward slash as separators.
3. Use two backslashes \\ as path separator
Because the error is caused by the backslash, you can escape the backslash by adding another backslash.
This causes the backslash to be interpreted as is, without any special meaning:
file_path = "C:\\Users\\nathan\\Desktop\\file.txt"
With two backslashes \\ as shown above, Python considers the backslash to be a raw character with no special meaning.
Note that this solution only works in Windows, as Linux and Mac use the forward slash for the separator.
Conclusion
Now you’ve learned that the SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec occurs when you put Unicode bytes start symbol \U in your string.
The backslash character has a special meaning as the escape character in programming. Unfortunately, it’s also used as the path separator in Windows OS.
To resolve this error, you can replace the backslash with forward slash /, or you can also remove the meaning in the backslash character using the r prefix or update the path with a double backslash \\ for the separator.
I hope this tutorial is helpful. Happy coding! 👍
Introduction
Many times we get to see «UnicodeError: UnicodeDecodeError: ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape» error in Python, and begin scratching our heads thinking about what to do next. Here, we will be seeing what this error actually means, what are its origins and how to fix it, without much effort.
What is Unicode Error in Python?
In Python, a UnicodeError is an exception that is raised when there is a problem working with Unicode strings. This can happen for a variety of reasons, such as trying to decode an invalid Unicode character or trying to encode a character that is not supported by the chosen encoding.
What is a Unicode string?
In Python, a Unicode string is a sequence of Unicode characters. Unicode is a standardized character encoding that represents most of the world’s written languages.
In Python, you can use Unicode strings by prefixing your string with the u character.
For example:
# This is a Unicode string
my_string = u'Hello World!'
Unicode strings can contain any Unicode character, including special characters and characters from non-Latin scripts such as Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. They are stored internally as a series of 16-bit integers, with each integer representing a Unicode code point.
Operations on Unicode String
You can use Unicode strings in Python just like you would use any other string. You can manipulate them with string methods, concatenate them with other strings, and so on.
To convert a Unicode string to a regular Python string, you can use the encode method and specify an encoding such as utf-8 or latin-1. To convert a regular Python string to a Unicode string, you can use the decode method and specify an encoding.
Given below is an example of encoding and decoding of a string in Python:-
# This is a Unicode string
my_string = u'Hello World!'
# Encode the string as a bytes object using the 'utf-8' encoding
my_bytes = my_string.encode('utf-8')
# Decode the bytes object back into a Unicode string using the 'utf-8' encoding
my_string = my_bytes.decode('utf-8')
Why “Unicode Error: unicodeescape codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3” error occurs?
The «UnicodeError: UnicodeDecodeError: ‘unicodeescape’ codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape» error in Python is raised when the interpreter is trying to decode a string that contains a Unicode escape sequence, but the sequence is invalid or incomplete.
How “Unicode Error: unicodeescape codec can’t decode bytes in position 2-3” error occurs and its fixes?
Invalid Unicode characters:
If you are trying to decode a string that contains an invalid Unicode character, you will get a UnicodeError.
For example:
# This will cause a UnicodeError because the character '\u1234' is not a valid Unicode character
my_string = b'\x80\x81\u1234\x82'.decode('utf-8')
Unsupported encoding:
If you are trying to encode a string using an encoding that does not support certain characters, you will get a UnicodeError.
For example:
# This will cause a UnicodeError because the character '\u20ac' is not supported by the 'ascii' encoding
my_string = '\u20ac'.encode('ascii')
Mismatched encoding and decoding:
If you are trying to encode a string using one encoding and then decode it using a different encoding, you may get a UnicodeError if the two encodings are incompatible.
For example:
# This will cause a UnicodeError because the 'utf-8' encoding cannot decode the 'latin-1' encoding
my_string = '\u20ac'.encode('latin-1').decode('utf-8')
Invalid escape sequence:
If you have typed an invalid Unicode escape sequence, such as \U123456, the interpreter will not be able to decode it and will raise this error.
Conclusions
To fix a UnicodeError, you will need to carefully review your code and identify the cause of the error. Make sure that you are using the correct encoding and decoding functions and that your strings do not contain any invalid or unsupported characters.