How to work with UTF-8 in Python 2.7?

Question

I just want to get UTF-8 working. I tried this:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*- 
t = "одобрение за"
print t

But when I run this program from the command line, output looks like: одобрение за

I've searched up and down the net, tried the whole sys.setdefaultencoding thing, tried calling encode() and decode(), tried placing the little "u" in front, tried unicode(), etc.

I'm about ready to explode from frustration. Is there a definitive answer for what the heck you're supposed to do?

• bruno desthuilliers: joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html
• Bakuriu: What's the encoding of your terminal? Did you check sys.stdout.encoding? The fact that your string is a unicode string does not mean that the terminal is able to display it correctly.
• Burhan Khalid: Are you running this from Windows using cmd.exe?
• stalk: You forgot to add u to "одобрение за". Try this: t = u"одобрение за"
• John Smith: @stalk Is that necessary?

Answer 1

Your code works for me (tm)

In [1]: t = u"одобрение за"
In [2]: print t
одобрение за

Make sure your terminal supports UTF-8. One way is to check the LANG env-variable:

$ echo $LANG
en_US.UTF-8

also, try the locale command.

$LANG/locale just tells you what your system will use when writing to stdout/stderr. Best way to test if terminal supports UTF-8 is probably to print something to it and see if it looks correct. Something like this:

echo -e '\xe2\x82\xac' 

You should get a €-sign.

If not, try a different shell...

Answer 2

Since you are using Windows cmd.exe, you have to follow two steps:

1. Make sure your console is using Lucidia console font family (other fonts cannot display UTF-8 properly).

2. Type chcp 65001 (that's change codepage) and hit enter.

3. Run your command.

For subsequent runs (once you close the cmd.exe window), you'll have to change the codepage again. The font should be permanent.

• John Smith: "LookupError: unknown encoding: cp65001"
• Burhan Khalid: Uh, where did you type that? Do you have UTF-8 enabled in languages and settings/regions or whatever is called in the control panel? You'll also need to enable "advanced support" which will install other files to provide support for all programs.
• John Smith: I am using W7 so I don't see that option
• Burhan Khalid: Hmm, in Windows 7 UTF is enabled by default, but you may need a font. Try opening up PowerShell (should be installed by default), and then type this $OutputEncoding = New-Object -typename System.Text.UTF8Encoding and then run your script again.