Stabilizing the error with the best answers: iterator should return strings, not bytes (did you open the file in text mode?)

Question

Recently, I ran some of my python code, and it gave the warning text:

for row in reader:   # iterates the rows of the file in orders
_csv.Error: iterator should return strings, not bytes (did you open the file in text mode?)

While searching, I realized that some people added some command lines in my sample above. But I don’t think it is the best way to correct the problem - iterator should return strings, not bytes (did you open the file in text mode?) How would you explain this trouble? or Is there a better way? Below is the detail of the command that I used:

import csv     # imports the csv module
import sys      # imports the sys module

f = open('Address Book.csv', 'rb') # opens the csv file
try:
    reader = csv.reader(f)  # creates the reader object
    for row in reader:   # iterates the rows of the file in orders
        print (row)    # prints each row
finally:
    f.close()      # closing

lyytutoria · Accepted Answer

The cause: You don't need the finally: f.close(), because it will automatically close the file on an error, or on exiting the context. Solution: Instead of this (and the rest):

f = open('Address Book.csv', 'rb')

Do this:

with open('Address Book.csv', 'r') as f: 
    reader = csv.reader(f) 
    for row in reader: 
        print(row)

Ethan Lagarde · Answer

It is throwing an exception because you have rb as your argument, which opens the file with binary mode. You can change that to r which will open the file in text mode .

Use this code:

import csv
ifile = open('sample.csv', "rb")
read = csv.reader(ifile)
for row in read :
 print (row)

Code new:

import csv
ifile = open('sample.csv', "r")
read = csv.reader(ifile)
for row in read :
 print (row)

Sign Up

Sign In

Forgot Password

ITtutoria Latest Questions

Stabilizing the error with the best answers: iterator should return strings, not bytes (did you open the file in text mode?)