CODEWITHSUNDEEP
stringpython-2.7
u936293
u936293

Reputation: 16264

What's does error handling option of replace mean in str.decode/encode?

The Python documentation on str.decode and encode allow an "error handling scheme". What does the replace option mean or do?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 58

Answers (1)

John Zwinck
John Zwinck

Reputation: 249384

If you follow the link in the doc you referenced, it goes here: https://docs.python.org/2/library/codecs.html#codec-base-classes

Which says replace does this:

Replace with a suitable replacement character; Python will use the official U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER for the built-in Unicode codecs on decoding and ‘?’ on encoding.

U+FFFD is:

Used to replace an incoming character whose value is unknown or unrepresentable in Unicode.

So basically the replace option puts a "dummy" character in the output wherever the input had a "bad" character that could not be decoded or encoded.

Upvotes: 1

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