How Can I Fix 'SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character...' Errors in My Python Code?

Dealing with Non-ASCII Characters in Python Scripts: Resolving the "Non-ASCII Character..." Syntax Error

In Python 2 and Python 3, attempting to use non-ASCII characters in string literals may result in a "SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character..." or "SyntaxError: Non-UTF-8 code..." error. This issue arises because Python's default encoding may not support the non-ASCII character in question, particularly if your code file is saved in an incompatible character encoding.

For instance, consider the following Python 2 code:

def NewFunction():
    return '£'

Upon running this code, you might encounter an error like:

SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\xa3' in file '...' but no encoding declared;
see http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0263.html for details

This error indicates that the £ symbol, represented by 'xa3' in binary, is not recognized by the script's current encoding. To resolve this issue, it's recommended to use an encoding that supports the desired non-ASCII characters. UTF-8 is a widely-adopted encoding that accommodates a vast range of characters from different languages and scripts.

One way to enable UTF-8 encoding in Python is by adding an encoding declaration at the beginning of the script file:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

def NewFunction():
    return '£'

With this declaration in place, Python will interpret the code using UTF-8 encoding, allowing the £ symbol to be used without encountering the syntax error. However, if you want to support multiple character sets or encodings within a single file, you can specify encoding on a string by string basis within the code itself.

By addressing the problem of non-ASCII characters through proper encoding techniques, you can ensure that your Python scripts can handle international text and special characters efficiently.

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