Python 3.10+iofunction

io.text_encoding

utilities

Returns the given encoding, or for None the default text encoding: 'locale', or 'utf-8' in UTF-8 Mode; helps libraries pass encoding on correctly (3.10+).

Syntax

io.text_encoding(encoding)

It opens nothing and validates nothing: any non-empty string comes back unchanged, a misspelled codec name included, and the failure only surfaces later in open(). When encoding is None it returns the sentinel 'locale' (or 'utf-8' under UTF-8 Mode), not an actual codec name — open() knows what to do with it. Call it inside your own open() wrappers: under -X warn_default_encoding it raises EncodingWarning, and stacklevel=2 makes the warning point at your caller rather than at the wrapper.

Examples

import io
print(io.text_encoding('utf-8'))   # → utf-8
print(io.text_encoding('cp1251'))   # → cp1251
print(io.text_encoding('no-such-codec'))   # → no-such-codec
print(io.text_encoding('utf-8', 3))   # → utf-8
print(io.text_encoding(None) in ('locale', 'utf-8'))   # → True

See also

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