title: Reading my csv file in python generates encoded data
body: <p>I have a problem reading a csv file on python, although I can have access to my data via Excel. </p>
  
  <p>Bellow is the script I have tried to read the file:</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-py prettyprint-override"><code>import csv
  
  with open('theFile.csv', 'r', encoding='utf-8', errors='ignore') as csvFile:
      reader = csv.reader(csvFile)
      reader = csv.reader(x.replace('\0', '') for x in csvFile)
      for row in reader:
          print(row)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>N.B: I added <code>errors:'ignore'</code>to  avoid the following error:
  <code>UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xcd in position 16: invalid continuation byte</code></p>
  
  <p>It's "working", it doesn't return errors, but the data displayed is encoded in some syntax I don't know (it's a mixture of ascii, chineese, arabic ...), yet organized in brackets (I assume it's the rows and lines). Here is a sample of the resulting data I have:</p>
  
  <pre><code>...
  
   ['#']
  [';eTbv܅']
  ['=\x17Ҥ\x14\x1d4Xrߋ{b@.8d˽\x01\x1eד&amp;\x05;mt`O']
  ['\x06^CLqgL\x14', '\te0Z\x7f&gt;:|w.{\x062&gt;;\x11d\\oT5\x07̫\x14d\\6', 'a4Ku榏\x01U|\x01.%FH']
  ['\x1c%\x13\x1eZ֛Eu&gt;\x1b{tz\x1d\\-7~Yll?\x11Gp\x0f߈v"UhT\x04IF\x1dFK[W&amp;d\x0bK|\x01[&gt;v`KY8rE', "DF4qKcb2+Gta/DO\x1e!7\x11×\x13cJQ*I9E*o\x1f!\x19W֭}d3\x1afʤ'¢d\x19\\vP;$\x0b"]
  ['_(]\x17\x1atTPL翬}J;R\x12Hl4~amB\x0b1kf]`\x05H8d2s{}|K(DJ\x02\x1f˪*c\x18\x7fa8%e7=QLJ2udj^&amp;. &lt;\t\x18cI4魚\x08I62QM\x11\x0fܡ\x1c*QLv\x11uY"\x7f1·E"ڟ%̉.r\x12dԣz\x13', '+ZDVsx|L\\6QM&lt;I']
  
  ...
  
  ['iβg']
  ['\x06c&lt;PUc0\x1a=e\x7fx&amp;%握\x18\x1cW-i\x19LǗ^zh\x1ag']
  ["\x10R\x7f&amp;\x14*ʞ\x06SQ1\x0e)Z\\Q\x0c8\\%TP\x1bnh[1iҪEC!f-E\x1d\x12v8h!ZX]pc$\x19O9k\x1974'FA;E_mag0p;U[\x0fŔg\x18'wsסn_\x06\x7f8$mA", 'y%\x02#\x10ӾM\x11"FP\x1b\x1ett\x08X^vu\x01b9Wb)y]u\x0b\x03PK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!ȣ4v\x01\x04\x05\x13[Content_Types].xmlPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!U0#L\x02\x0b\x03_rels/.relsPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!&gt;\x02\x1ap\x06xl/_rels/workbook.xml.relsPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!\x17XG\x01\x14\x02\x0f\x08xl/workbook.xmlPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!\x14\x04^\x04\x0c\x14\x18']
  ['xl/sharedStrings.xmlPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!;m2KB\x01#\x0exl/worksheets/_rels/sheet1.xml.relsPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!\x12_\x06T\x1b\x13\x0fxl/theme/theme1.xmlPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!j9Ա\x02\x04\x0c']
  ["a\x16xl/styles.xmlPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!\x06*z\x04\x06\x17\x18J\x19xl/worksheets/sheet1.xmlPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!H\x0e\x1d'\x04xl/printerSettings/printerSettings1.binPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!}\x10A\x01[\x02\x11\x04docProps/core.xmlPK\x01\x02-\x14\x06\x08!c", '(\x010\x03\x10\x19\x04docProps/app.xmlPK\x05\x06\x0c\x0c&amp;\x03\x04']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here is a screen shot of the csv file (that I had fun modifying for this post ^^):</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wbYjz.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wbYjz.png" alt="Some of the csv data"></a></p>
  
  <p>All I want is to have access to the data without ruining it. I'm then open to other methods and I can easily modify the type of the file (even if I have already tried, in vain, with the dbf type).</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance.</p>