Reference library

Files & data

Read and write files safely; parse JSON, CSV, and common text formats.

1 match
Files & data easy

How to Detect File Encoding: UTF-8 vs Latin-1 in Python

Detect whether a file is UTF-8 or Latin-1 encoded by attempting a UTF-8 decode and falling back to Latin-1.

file-encoding utf-8 latin-1
Python 
import sys

def detect_encoding(file_path):
    with open(file_path, 'rb') as f:
        raw = f.read()
    
    try:
        raw.decode('utf-8')
        return 'UTF-8'
    except UnicodeDecodeError:
        return 'latin1'

if __name__ == "__main__":
    file_path = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else 'sample.txt'
…
13 0 Open

Browse by section

Each section groups closely related Python snippets.

Files & data — Python code examples

What you will find here

This page collects files & data snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.

Samples vs tutorials and challenges

Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.

Related coding tools

Free online Python IDE Write and run Python in your browser — no install. Free Python code formatter Format with autopep8 — side-by-side PEP 8 cleanup. Python code samples Copy-ready snippets to study and run in the IDE.