Print UTF-8 characters in cmd using python

Question

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
print "ÆØÅ"

When running the above script in Windows 7 with python 2.7.3 using cmd, powershell or cygwin, I get this output:

├å├ÿ├à

The file is a UTF-8 file and works fine in my text editor. How can I make it print "ÆØÅ"?

@msvalkon That worked perfectly and from __future__ import unicode_literals works too. @ThomasOrozco I have no idea how to do that in cmd. — Tyilo
– Tyilo, Commented Mar 4, 2013 at 12:02
Windows UTF8 printing in the console is notoriously troublesome. You need to use the correct codepage (65001), for Python versions before 3.2, add support for that codepage to Python, and use the correct font to display unicode glyphs. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Mar 4, 2013 at 12:12

danodonovan · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-04 12:06:38Z

5

Bit late to the party here, try

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import unicode_literals
print "ÆØÅ"

answered Mar 4, 2013 at 12:06

danodonovan

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1 Comment

Using the from __future__ import unicode_literals is useful in an interactive python session. Thank you for it.

msvalkon · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-04 12:10:29Z

3

You can force unicode when printing:

print u'ÆØÅ'

answered Mar 4, 2013 at 12:10

msvalkon

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