Unicode Error unicodeescape codec cant decode bytes… Cannot open text files in Python 3

Unicode Error unicodeescape codec cant decode bytes… Cannot open text files in Python 3

The problem is with the string

C:UsersEricDesktopbeeline.txt

Here, U in C:Users… starts an eight-character Unicode escape, such as U00014321. In your code, the escape is followed by the character s, which is invalid.

You either need to duplicate all backslashes:

C:\Users\Eric\Desktop\beeline.txt

Or prefix the string with r (to produce a raw string):

rC:UsersEricDesktopbeeline.txt

Typical error on Windows because the default user directory is C:user<your_user>, so when you want to pass this path as a string argument into a Python function, you get a Unicode error, just because the u is a Unicode escape. If the next 8 characters after the u are not numeric this produces an error.

To solve it, just double the backslashes: C:\user\<your_user>...
This will ensure that Python treats the single backslashes as single backslashes.

Unicode Error unicodeescape codec cant decode bytes… Cannot open text files in Python 3

Prefixing with r works very well, but it needs to be in the correct syntax. For example:

passwordFile = open(rC:UsersBobSecretPasswordFile.txt)

No need for \ here – maintains readability and works well.