UnicodeEncodeError: Character Cannot Be Encoded

Why This Happens

Python 3 strings are Unicode by default, but when writing to files or stdout, they must be encoded. If the target encoding cannot represent certain characters, this error is raised.

The Problem

name = 'caf\u00e9'
with open('out.txt', 'w', encoding='ascii') as f:
    f.write(name)

The Fix

name = 'caf\u00e9'
with open('out.txt', 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    f.write(name)

Step-by-Step Fix

1. 1

   Use UTF-8 encoding

   Specify encoding='utf-8' when opening files.

2. 2

   Set PYTHONIOENCODING

   Set PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8 for stdout issues.

3. 3

   Handle errors gracefully

   Use errors='replace' for unencodable characters.