Backporting Python 3 Open to Python 2

General Discussions
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Adding to the great suggestions above, here’s another option for those times when external libraries or io.open() aren’t feasible.

Manual Encoding Handling for Python 2 If you cannot rely on io.open() or compatibility libraries, you can manage encoding yourself. While slightly less elegant, this approach is straightforward and works reliably.

import sys

if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
    # Python 2.x
    with open(fname, "rb") as f:
        content = f.read().decode("utf-8")
else:
    # Python 3.x
    with open(fname, "rt", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        content = f.read()

# Use the 'content' variable for further processing

In this method, you open the file in binary mode (rb) in Python 2, then manually decode the content to utf-8. For Python 3, you use the native open() with the encoding parameter. While this introduces a bit more boilerplate, it ensures that your python open encoding logic is explicit and adaptable.