How do I read in a text file in python 3.3.3 and store it in a variable?

Question

How do I read in a text file in python 3.3.3 and store it in a variable? I'm struggling with this unicode coming from python 2.x

Answer 1

Given this file:

utf-8:   áèíöû

This works as you expect (IFF utf-8 is your default encoding):

with open('/tmp/unicode.txt') as f:
    variable=f.read()

print(variable)  

It is better to explicitly state your intensions if you are unsure what the default is by using a keyword argument to open:

with open('/tmp/unicode.txt', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    variable=f.read()

The keyword encodings supported are in the codec module. (For Python 2, you need to use codecs open to open the file rather than Python 2's open BTW.)