ValueError: binary mode doesn't take an encoding argument

ValueError: binary mode doesn't take an encoding argument #

The Python "ValueError: binary mode doesn't take an encoding argument" occurs when we open a file in binary mode (rb or wb) and set the encoding keyword argument. To solve the error, either open the file in text mode (r or w) or remove the encoding keyword argument.

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

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# ⛔️ ValueError: binary mode doesn't take an encoding argument
with open('example.txt', 'rb', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    result = f.readlines()
    print(result)

We opened the file in rb (binary) mode rather than r (text) mode and set the encoding keyword argument which caused the error.

The same is the case if you open the file in wb (write binary) mode rather than w (write text) mode.

If you are reading from or writing to a binary file, keep the mode and remove the encoding keyword argument.

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with open('example.txt', 'rb') as f:
    result = f.readlines()
    print(result)

If you are reading from or writing to text files, remove the b character from the mode and set the encoding keyword argument.

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with open('example.txt', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    result = f.readlines()
    print(result)

You can use the w mode if writing to a text file.

When a file is opened in text mode, we read and write strings from and to the file.

Those strings are encoded using a specific encoding (utf-8 in the example).

If you want to both read from and write to the file, use the r+ mode when opening it.

Note that you cannot specify encoding when opening a file in binary mode.

When a file is opened in binary mode, data is read and written as bytes objects.