Python read files

Question

Hello,
i am learning python at the moment and just learned how to open and read files.
So I wanted to try it but if i do this i get an unicode error.
Heres my code:
lol = open ("C:\Users\user\Desktop\file_test.txt", "r")
cont = lol.read()
print (cont)
lol.close()
Or:
lol = open ("C:\Users\user\Desktop\file_test.txt")
print (lol.read)
lol.close()
No matte how i get this error:
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape
And its pointing on the character after "......file_test.txt"
Please help.
Thank you!

Answer 1

It's most likely seeing the backslashes as escape characters. To get it to see them as regular backslashes, you can escape the backslashes with another backslash like
"C:\\Users\\user\\Desktop\\file_test.txt"
or You may be able to use a raw string
r"C:\Users\user\Desktop\file_test.txt"

Answer 2

Thanks man it worked.
Wow i didnt know the raw string.
Its very cool, just put a "r" to the begining and everything works.

Answer 3

https://community.dataquest.io/t/cant-read-in-sede-dsse-database-in-guided-project-popular-data-science-questions/556119/3