How to Remove Non-ASCII Characters When Reading A CSV File Using Pandas?

8 minutes read

To remove non-ASCII characters when reading a CSV file using Pandas, you can follow the steps below:

  1. Import the required libraries:
1
2
import pandas as pd
import re


  1. Read the CSV file using Pandas:
1
df = pd.read_csv('your_file.csv')


  1. Iterate over each column in the DataFrame and apply a regular expression to remove non-ASCII characters:
1
2
for column in df.columns:
    df[column] = df[column].map(lambda x: re.sub(r'[^\x00-\x7F]', '', str(x)))


Note: The regular expression [^\x00-\x7F] matches any character outside the ASCII range (0-127) and replaces it with an empty string.

  1. If you want to save the modified DataFrame back to a CSV file, you can use the following command:
1
df.to_csv('cleaned_file.csv', index=False)


Note: The index=False argument ensures that the index column is not saved in the CSV file.


By following these steps, you can remove non-ASCII characters from a CSV file when reading it using Pandas.

Best Python Books of July 2024

1
Learning Python, 5th Edition

Rating is 5 out of 5

Learning Python, 5th Edition

2
Head First Python: A Brain-Friendly Guide

Rating is 4.9 out of 5

Head First Python: A Brain-Friendly Guide

3
Python for Beginners: 2 Books in 1: Python Programming for Beginners, Python Workbook

Rating is 4.8 out of 5

Python for Beginners: 2 Books in 1: Python Programming for Beginners, Python Workbook

4
Python All-in-One For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Rating is 4.7 out of 5

Python All-in-One For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

5
Python for Everybody: Exploring Data in Python 3

Rating is 4.6 out of 5

Python for Everybody: Exploring Data in Python 3

6
Learn Python Programming: The no-nonsense, beginner's guide to programming, data science, and web development with Python 3.7, 2nd Edition

Rating is 4.5 out of 5

Learn Python Programming: The no-nonsense, beginner's guide to programming, data science, and web development with Python 3.7, 2nd Edition

7
Python Machine Learning: Machine Learning and Deep Learning with Python, scikit-learn, and TensorFlow 2, 3rd Edition

Rating is 4.4 out of 5

Python Machine Learning: Machine Learning and Deep Learning with Python, scikit-learn, and TensorFlow 2, 3rd Edition


What are empty cells in a CSV file?

Empty cells in a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file refer to the cells that do not have any data or values in them. These cells may appear as blank spaces or contain only commas, indicating the absence of any information. Empty cells are commonly encountered in CSV files when columns have missing or incomplete data.


What is a library in Python?

In Python, a library refers to a collection of prewritten functions and modules that can be utilized to perform specific tasks or add specific functionalities to a program. These libraries are typically stored in separate files and can be imported into Python code to make use of their capabilities. Libraries provide a convenient way for developers to reuse existing code and avoid reinventing the wheel while building their applications. Some commonly used libraries in Python include NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, BeautifulSoup, and TensorFlow.


What is encoding in Python?

In Python, encoding refers to the process of translating data into a format that is suitable for storage, transmission, or processing. It is commonly used to convert text from one character encoding scheme to another, such as from Unicode to ASCII or vice versa.


Python supports various encoding schemes, such as UTF-8, ASCII, Latin-1, and more. The default string type in Python, str, uses the Unicode encoding, which allows it to represent characters from various languages and scripts.


When working with text data, it is important to understand and handle encoding properly to ensure compatibility between different systems and avoid issues like data corruption, incorrect display of characters, or encoding-related errors. The encode() and decode() methods of the string objects in Python are commonly used to convert strings between different encodings.


What is a module in Python?

In Python, a module is a file containing Python definitions, functions, and statements. It allows you to organize code and reuse it in multiple programs. The module can be imported into other programs to access its functions and variables. Modules in Python serve as a way to split large code bases into manageable chunks and improve code readability and maintainability. There are built-in modules available in Python as well as third-party modules that can be installed using package managers like pip.


How to remove non-ASCII characters from a string?

One way to remove non-ASCII characters from a string is by using regular expressions. Here's an example in Python:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
import re

def remove_non_ascii(text):
    return re.sub(r'[^\x00-\x7F]+', '', text)

# Example usage
string_with_non_ascii = 'Hëllö Wörld! 🌍'
clean_string = remove_non_ascii(string_with_non_ascii)
print(clean_string)  # Output: Hello World!


In this example, the remove_non_ascii function uses the re.sub() method from the re module to replace non-ASCII characters with an empty string. The regular expression pattern [^\x00-\x7F] matches any character that is not within the ASCII range (hexadecimal values between 00 and 7F).


What is a CSV file?

A CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file is a type of plain text file that stores tabular data (spreadsheet or database-like data) in a simplified format. It uses commas as delimiters to separate individual data fields within each row. Each row in a CSV file represents a record, and each field within a row represents a different attribute or data value. CSV files are commonly used to exchange data between different applications, as they are simple, easy to read and write, and widely supported by various software platforms.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Whatsapp Pocket

Related Posts:

To read a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file into a list in Python, you can use the csv module, which provides functionality for both reading from and writing to CSV files. Here is a step-by-step guide:Import the csv module: import csv Open the CSV file using t...
Reading a CSV file using Pandas in Python involves the following steps:Import the necessary modules: Begin by importing the Pandas library, which provides a convenient and powerful set of data manipulation tools. import pandas as pd Specify the file path: Prov...
To combine multiple CSV files into one CSV using pandas, you can first read all the individual CSV files into separate dataframes using the pd.read_csv() function. Then, you can use the pd.concat() function to concatenate these dataframes into a single datafra...