unicode error preventing creation of text file

Question

What is causing this error and how can I fix it?

(unicode error) \'unicodeescape\' codec can\'t decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \\UXXXXXXXX escape

Answer 1

You should escape backslashes inside the string literal. Compare:

>>> print("\U00000023")  # single character
#
>>> print(r"\U00000023") # raw-string literal with 
\U00000023
>>> print("\\U00000023") # 10 characters
\U00000023

>>> print("a\nb")  # three characters (literal newline)
a
b
>>> print(r"a\nb") # four characters (note: `r""` prefix)
a\nb