I am writing a script that will try encoding bytes into many different encodings in Python 2.6. Is there some way to get a list of available encodings that I can iterate over?
The reason I’m trying to do this is because a user has some text that is not encoded correctly. There are funny characters. I know the unicode character that’s messing it up. I want to be able to give them an answer like “Your text editor is interpreting that string as X encoding, not Y encoding”. I thought I would try to encode that character using one encoding, then decode it again using another encoding, and see if we get the same character sequence.
i.e. something like this:
for encoding1, encoding2 in itertools.permutation(encodinglist(), 2):
try:
unicode_string = my_unicode_character.encode(encoding1).decode(encoding2)
except:
pass
Answers:
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Method 1
Other answers here seem to indicate that constructing this list programmatically is difficult and fraught with traps. However, doing so is probably unnecessary since the documentation contains a complete list of the standard encodings Python supports, and has done since Python 2.3.
You can find these lists (for each stable version of the language so far released) at:
- https://docs.python.org/2.3/lib/node130.html
- https://docs.python.org/2.4/lib/standard-encodings.html
- https://docs.python.org/2.5/lib/standard-encodings.html
- https://docs.python.org/2.6/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.0/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.1/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.2/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.3/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.4/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.5/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
- https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings
Below are the lists for each documented version of Python. Note that if you want backwards-compatibility rather than just supporting a particular version of Python, you can just copy the list from the latest Python version and check whether each encoding exists in the Python running your program before trying to use it.
Python 2.3 (59 encodings)
['ascii', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8']
Python 2.4 (85 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8']
Python 2.5 (86 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 2.6 (90 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 2.7 (93 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp720', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp858', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_11', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.0 (89 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.1 (90 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.2 (92 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp720', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp858', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.3 (93 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp720', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp858', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'cp65001', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.4 (96 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp273', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp720', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp858', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1125', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'cp65001', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_11', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_u', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.5 (98 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp273', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp720', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp858', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1125', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'cp65001', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_11', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_t', 'koi8_u', 'kz1048', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.6 (98 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp273', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp720', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp858', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1125', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'cp65001', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_11', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_t', 'koi8_u', 'kz1048', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
Python 3.7 (98 encodings)
['ascii', 'big5', 'big5hkscs', 'cp037', 'cp273', 'cp424', 'cp437', 'cp500', 'cp720', 'cp737', 'cp775', 'cp850', 'cp852', 'cp855', 'cp856', 'cp857', 'cp858', 'cp860', 'cp861', 'cp862', 'cp863', 'cp864', 'cp865', 'cp866', 'cp869', 'cp874', 'cp875', 'cp932', 'cp949', 'cp950', 'cp1006', 'cp1026', 'cp1125', 'cp1140', 'cp1250', 'cp1251', 'cp1252', 'cp1253', 'cp1254', 'cp1255', 'cp1256', 'cp1257', 'cp1258', 'cp65001', 'euc_jp', 'euc_jis_2004', 'euc_jisx0213', 'euc_kr', 'gb2312', 'gbk', 'gb18030', 'hz', 'iso2022_jp', 'iso2022_jp_1', 'iso2022_jp_2', 'iso2022_jp_2004', 'iso2022_jp_3', 'iso2022_jp_ext', 'iso2022_kr', 'latin_1', 'iso8859_2', 'iso8859_3', 'iso8859_4', 'iso8859_5', 'iso8859_6', 'iso8859_7', 'iso8859_8', 'iso8859_9', 'iso8859_10', 'iso8859_11', 'iso8859_13', 'iso8859_14', 'iso8859_15', 'iso8859_16', 'johab', 'koi8_r', 'koi8_t', 'koi8_u', 'kz1048', 'mac_cyrillic', 'mac_greek', 'mac_iceland', 'mac_latin2', 'mac_roman', 'mac_turkish', 'ptcp154', 'shift_jis', 'shift_jis_2004', 'shift_jisx0213', 'utf_32', 'utf_32_be', 'utf_32_le', 'utf_16', 'utf_16_be', 'utf_16_le', 'utf_7', 'utf_8', 'utf_8_sig']
In case they’re relevant to anyone’s use case, note that the docs also list some Python-specific encodings, many of which seem to be primarily for use by Python’s internals or are otherwise weird in some way, like the 'undefined' encoding which always throws an exception if you try to use it. You probably want to ignore these completely if, like the question-asker here, you’re trying to figure out what encoding was used for some text you’ve come across in the real world. As of Python 3.7, the list is as follows:
["idna", "mbcs", "oem", "palmos", "punycode", "raw_unicode_escape", "rot_13", "undefined", "unicode_escape", "unicode_internal", "base64_codec", "bz2_codec", "hex_codec", "quopri_codec", "uu_codec", "zlib_codec"]
Some older Python versions had a string_escape special encoding that I’ve not included in the above list because it’s been removed from the language.
Finally, in case you’d like to update my tables above for a newer version of Python, here’s the (crude, not very robust) script I used to generate them:
import requests
import lxml.html
import pprint
for version, url in [
('2.3', 'https://docs.python.org/2.3/lib/node130.html'),
('2.4', 'https://docs.python.org/2.4/lib/standard-encodings.html'),
('2.5', 'https://docs.python.org/2.5/lib/standard-encodings.html'),
('2.6', 'https://docs.python.org/2.6/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('2.7', 'https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.0', 'https://docs.python.org/3.0/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.1', 'https://docs.python.org/3.1/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.2', 'https://docs.python.org/3.2/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.3', 'https://docs.python.org/3.3/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.4', 'https://docs.python.org/3.4/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.5', 'https://docs.python.org/3.5/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.6', 'https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
('3.7', 'https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings'),
]:
html = requests.get(url).text
doc = lxml.html.fromstring(html)
standard_encodings_table = doc.xpath(
'//table[preceding::h2[.//text()[contains(., "Standard Encodings")]]][//th/text()="Codec"]'
)[0]
codecs = standard_encodings_table.xpath('.//td[1]/text()')
print("## Python %s (%i encodings)" % (version, len(codecs)))
print('<pre><code>' + pprint.pformat(codecs) + '</code></pre>')
Method 2
Unfortunately encodings.aliases.aliases.keys() is NOT an appropriate answer.
aliases(as one would/should expect) contains several cases where different keys are mapped to the same value e.g. 1252 and windows_1252 are both mapped to cp1252. You could save time if instead of aliases.keys() you use set(aliases.values()).
BUT THERE’S A WORSE PROBLEM: aliases doesn’t contain codecs that don’t have aliases (like cp856, cp874, cp875, cp737, and koi8_u).
>>> from encodings.aliases import aliases
>>> def find(q):
... return [(k,v) for k, v in aliases.items() if q in k or q in v]
...
>>> find('1252') # multiple aliases
[('1252', 'cp1252'), ('windows_1252', 'cp1252')]
>>> find('856') # no codepage 856 in aliases
[]
>>> find('koi8') # no koi8_u in aliases
[('cskoi8r', 'koi8_r')]
>>> 'x'.decode('cp856') # but cp856 is a valid codec
u'x'
>>> 'x'.decode('koi8_u') # but koi8_u is a valid codec
u'x'
>>>
It’s also worth noting that however you obtain a full list of codecs, it may be a good idea to ignore the codecs that aren’t about encoding/decoding character sets, but do some other transformation e.g. zlib, quopri, and base64.
Which brings us to the question of WHY you want to “try encoding bytes into many different encodings”. If we know that, we may be able to steer you in the right direction.
For a start, that’s ambiguous. One DEcodes bytes into unicode, and one ENcodes unicode into bytes. Which do you want to do?
What are you really trying to achieve: Are you trying to determine which codec to use to decode some incoming bytes, and plan to attempt this with all possible codecs? [note: latin1 will decode anything] Are you trying to determine the language of some unicode text by trying to encode it with all possible codecs? [note: utf8 will encode anything].
Method 3
Maybe you should try using the Universal Encoding Detector (chardet) library instead of implementing it yourself.
>>> import chardet
>>> s = 'xe2x98x83' # ☃
>>> chardet.detect(s)
{'confidence': 0.505, 'encoding': 'utf-8'}
Method 4
You could use a technique to list all modules in the encodings package.
import pkgutil import encodings false_positives = set(["aliases"]) found = set(name for imp, name, ispkg in pkgutil.iter_modules(encodings.__path__) if not ispkg) found.difference_update(false_positives) print found
Method 5
I doubt there is such method/functionality in codecs module, but if you see encoding/__init__.py, search function searches thru encodings modules folder, so you may do the same e.g.
>>> os.listdir(os.path.dirname(encodings.__file__)) ['cp500.pyc', 'utf_16_le.py', 'gb18030.py', 'mbcs.pyc', 'undefined.pyc', 'idna.pyc', 'punycode.pyc', 'cp850.py', 'big5hkscs.pyc', 'mac_arabic.py', '__init__.pyc', 'string_escape.py', 'hz.py', 'cp037.py', 'cp737.py', 'iso8859_5.pyc', 'iso8859_13.pyc', 'cp861.pyc', 'cp862.py', 'iso8859_9.pyc', 'cp949.py', 'base64_codec.pyc', 'koi8_r.py', 'iso8859_2.py', 'ptcp154.pyc', 'uu_codec.pyc', 'mac_croatian.pyc', 'charmap.pyc', 'iso8859_15.pyc', 'euc_jp.py', 'cp1250.py', 'iso8859_10.pyc', 'koi8_r.pyc', 'unicode_escape.pyc', 'cp863.pyc', 'iso8859_4.pyc', 'cp852.py', 'unicode_internal.py', 'big5hkscs.py', 'cp1257.pyc', 'cp1254.py', 'shift_jisx0213.py', 'shift_jis.pyc', 'cp869.pyc', 'hp_roman8.py', 'iso8859_4.py', 'cp775.py', 'cp1251.py', 'mac_cyrillic.pyc', 'mac_greek.pyc', 'mac_roman.pyc', 'iso8859_11.pyc', 'iso8859_6.py', 'utf_8_sig.py', 'iso8859_3.py', 'iso2022_jp_1.py', 'ascii.py', 'cp1026.pyc', 'cp1250.pyc', 'cp950.py', 'raw_unicode_escape.py', 'euc_jis_2004.pyc', 'cp775.pyc', 'euc_kr.py', 'mac _greek.py', 'big5.pyc', 'shift_jis_2004.pyc', 'gbk.pyc', 'cp1254.pyc', 'cp1255.pyc', 'cp855.pyc', 'string_escape.pyc', 'cp949.pyc', 'cp1258.pyc', 'iso8859_3.pyc', 'mac_iceland.pyc', 'cp1251.pyc', 'cp860.py', 'cp856.py', 'cp874.py', 'iso2022_kr.py', 'cp856.pyc', 'rot_13.py', 'palmos.py', 'iso2022_jp_2.pyc', 'mac_farsi.py', 'koi8_u.pyc', 'cp1256.py', 'iso8859_10.py', 'tis_620.py', 'iso8859_14.pyc', 'cp1253.py', 'cp1258.py', 'cp437.py', 'cp862.pyc', 'mac_turkish.py', 'undefined.py', 'euc_kr.pyc', 'gb18030.pyc', 'aliases.pyc', 'iso8859_9.py', 'uu_codec.py', 'gbk.py', 'quopri_codec.pyc', 'iso8859_7.py', 'mac_iceland.py', 'iso8859_2.pyc', 'euc_jis_2004.py', 'iso2022_jp_3.pyc', 'cp874.pyc', '__init__.py', 'mac_roman.py', 'iso8859_16.py', 'cp866.py', 'unicode_internal.pyc', 'mac_turkish.pyc', 'johab.pyc', 'cp037.pyc', 'punycode.py', 'cp1253.pyc', 'euc_jisx0213.pyc', 'iso2022_jp_2004.pyc', 'iso2022_kr.pyc', 'zlib_codec.pyc', 'cp932.py', 'cp1255.py', 'iso2022_jp_1.pyc', 'cp857.pyc', 'cp424.pyc', 'iso2022_jp_2.py', 'iso2022_jp.pyc', 'mbcs.py', 'utf_8.py', 'palmos.pyc', 'cp1252.pyc', 'aliases.py', 'quopri_codec.py', 'latin_1.pyc', 'iso2022_jp.py', 'zlib_codec.py', 'cp1026.py', 'cp860.pyc', 'cp1252.py', 'hex_codec.pyc', 'iso8859_1.pyc', 'cp850.pyc', 'cp861.py', 'iso8859_15.py', 'cp865.pyc', 'hp_roman8.pyc', 'iso8859_7.pyc', 'mac_latin2.py', 'iso8859_11.py', 'mac_centeuro.pyc', 'iso8859_6.pyc', 'ascii.pyc', 'mac_centeuro.py', 'iso2022_jp_3.py', 'bz2_codec.py', 'mac_arabic.pyc', 'euc_jisx0213.py', 'tis_620.pyc', 'shift_jis_2004.py', 'utf_8.pyc', 'cp855.py', 'mac_romanian.pyc', 'iso8859_8.py', 'cp869.py', 'ptcp154.py', 'utf_16_be.py', 'iso2022_jp_ext.pyc', 'bz2_codec.pyc', 'base64_codec.py', 'latin_1.py', 'charmap.py', 'hz.pyc', 'cp950.pyc', 'cp875.pyc', 'cp1006.pyc', 'utf_16.py', 'shift_jisx0213.pyc', 'cp424.py', 'cp932.pyc', 'iso8859_5.py', 'mac_romanian.py', 'utf_8_sig.pyc', 'iso8859_1.py', 'cp875.py', 'cp437.pyc', 'cp865.py', 'utf_7.py', 'utf_16_be.pyc', 'rot_13.pyc', 'euc_jp.p yc', 'raw_unicode_escape.pyc', 'iso8859_8.pyc', 'utf_16.pyc', 'iso8859_14.py', 'iso8859_16.pyc', 'cp852.pyc', 'cp737.pyc', 'mac_croatian.py', 'mac_latin2.pyc', 'iso2022_jp_ext.py', 'cp1140.py', 'mac_cyrillic.py', 'cp1257.py', 'cp500.py', 'cp1140.pyc', 'shift_jis.py', 'unicode_escape.py', 'cp864.py', 'cp864.pyc', 'cp857.py', 'hex_codec.py', 'mac_farsi.pyc', 'idna.py', 'johab.py', 'utf_7.pyc', 'cp863.py', 'iso8859_13.py', 'koi8_u.py', 'gb2312.pyc', 'cp1256.pyc', 'cp866.pyc', 'iso2022_jp_2004.py', 'utf_16_le.pyc', 'gb2312.py', 'cp1006.py', 'big5.py']
but as anybody can register a codec, so that won’t be exhaustive list.
Method 6
The Python source code has a script at Tools/unicode/listcodecs.py which lists all codecs.
Among the listed codecs, however, there are some that are not Unicode-to-byte converters, like base64_codec, quopri_codec and bz2_codec, as @John Machin pointed out.
Method 7
From Python 3.7.6 Source, under /Tools/unicode/listcodecs.py:
""" List all available codec modules.
(c) Copyright 2005, Marc-Andre Lemburg (<a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="600d010c200c050d021512074e030f0d">[email protected]</a>).
Licensed to PSF under a Contributor Agreement.
"""
import os, codecs, encodings
_debug = 0
def listcodecs(dir):
names = []
for filename in os.listdir(dir):
if filename[-3:] != '.py':
continue
name = filename[:-3]
# Check whether we've found a true codec
try:
codecs.lookup(name)
except LookupError:
# Codec not found
continue
except Exception as reason:
# Probably an error from importing the codec; still it's
# a valid code name
if _debug:
print('* problem importing codec %r: %s' %
(name, reason))
names.append(name)
return names
if __name__ == '__main__':
names = listcodecs(encodings.__path__[0])
names.sort()
print('all_codecs = [')
for name in names:
print(' %r,' % name)
print(']')
Then:
if str(response.encoding) is "undefined" or
str(response.encoding) not in names:
do_something() # like set default to utf_8 and execute
pass
Method 8
Probably you can do this:
from encodings.aliases import aliases print aliases.keys()
Method 9
Here’s a programmatic way to list all the encodings defined in the stdlib encodings package, note that this won’t list user defined encodings. This combines some of the tricks in the other answers but actually produces a working list using the codec’s canonical name.
import encodings
import pkgutil
import pprint
all_encodings = set()
for _, modname, _ in pkgutil.iter_modules(
encodings.__path__, encodings.__name__ + '.',
):
try:
mod = __import__(modname, fromlist=[str('__trash')])
except (ImportError, LookupError):
# A few encodings are platform specific: mcbs, cp65001
# print('skip {}'.format(modname))
pass
try:
all_encodings.add(mod.getregentry().name)
except AttributeError as e:
# the `aliases` module doensn't actually provide a codec
# print('skip {}'.format(modname))
if 'regentry' not in str(e):
raise
pprint.pprint(sorted(all_encodings))
Method 10
import os
def encodinglist():
r=[]
for i in os.listdir(os.path.split(__import__("encodings").__file__)[0]):
name=os.path.splitext(i)[0]
try:
"".encode(name)
except:
pass
else:
r.append(name.replace("_","-"))
return r
All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0