Python: Unicode source file adds spaces (actually null bytes) between characters

Question

I am a newbie. However, I managed to extract some lines from a txt-file (unicode) and write them in another file.

lines = InFile.readlines()
OutFile.writeli         


        

Answer 1

I'm fairly certain that your input file is UTF-16 encoded, and the spaces you're seeing are actually null bytes.

Try

with open("myfile.txt", "r", encoding="utf-16") as infile:
    lines = infile.readlines()

and see if the problem persists.