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I have a Python script written by my friend for text substitution which works in his system Ubuntu Focal.

The following is the script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Script Name: replace_text.py
Purpose: This Python script performs text substitution in files within a given directory.
It replaces specific characters as per predefined substitutions, providing a convenient way to modify text files.
Usage:
python replace_text.py /path/to/your/directory
Note:
- Ensure you have Python installed on your system.
- The script processes all files within the specified directory and its subdirectories.
- Files are modified in-place, so have a backup if needed.
"""
import os
import sys
def replace_text_in_files(directory):
 # Character substitutions
 substitutions = {
 '': 'fi',
 '': 'fl',
 'ä': 'ā',
 'é': 'ī',
 'ü': 'ū',
 'å': 'ṛ',
 'è': 'ṝ',
 'ì': 'ṅ',
 'ñ': 'ṣ',
 'ï': 'ñ',
 'ö': 'ṭ',
 'ò': 'ḍ',
 'ë': 'ṇ',
 'ç': 'ś',
 'à': 'ṁ',
 'ù': 'ḥ',
 'ÿ': 'ḷ',
 'û': 'ḹ',
 'Ä': 'Ā',
 'É': 'Ī',
 'Ü': 'Ū',
 'Å': 'Ṛ',
 'È': 'Ṝ',
 'Ì': 'Ṅ',
 'Ñ': 'Ṣ',
 'Ï': 'Ñ',
 'Ö': 'Ṭ',
 'Ò': 'Ḍ',
 'Ë': 'Ṇ',
 'Ç': 'Ś',
 'À': 'Ṁ',
 'Ù': 'Ḥ',
 'ß': 'Ḷ',
 '"': '"',
 '"': '"',
 ' ': ' ',
 '‘': '‘',
 '–': '-',
 '’': '’',
 '—': '—',
 '•': '»',
 '...': '...',
 }
 # Walk through the directory and its subdirectories
 for root, dirs, files in os.walk(directory):
 for file_name in files:
 file_path = os.path.join(root, file_name)
 with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
 file_content = file.read()
 
 # Perform substitutions
 for original, replacement in substitutions.items():
 file_content = file_content.replace(original, replacement)
 # Write the modified content back to the file
 with open(file_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as file:
 file.write(file_content)
if __name__ == "__main__":
 if len(sys.argv) != 2:
 print("Usage: python replace_text.py /path/to/your/directory")
 sys.exit(1)
 directory_path = sys.argv[1]
 replace_text_in_files(directory_path)
 print("Text substitution completed successfully.")

I Devuan Daedalus which is based on Debian 12 but without systemd. Upon running this script on my machine, I get the following error:

~/Documents/software-related/software-files$ python3 replace_text.py ~/Desktop/test-dir/
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/home/vrgovinda/Documents/software-related/software-files/replace_text.py", line 89, in <module>
 replace_text_in_files(directory_path)
 File "/home/vrgovinda/Documents/software-related/software-files/replace_text.py", line 73, in replace_text_in_files
 file_content = file.read()
 ^^^^^^^^^^^
 File "<frozen codecs>", line 322, in decode
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xad in position 41: invalid start byte

He doesn't have any clue about this. And I know nothing about python. Hence I seek help of those who are knowledgeable in this forum.

I took the suggestion by Ofer Sadan to open the file as a bytes file. But that gives me another error:

 binary mode doesn't take an encoding argument

Please ask for additional information if:

1. This question seems too vague/open-ended/generic.
2. I haven't provided sufficient information.

Thanks,