Should I use encoding declaration in Python 3?

Question

Python 3 uses UTF-8 encoding for source-code files by default. Should I still use the encoding declaration at the beginning of every source file? Like # -*- coding: ut

Answer 1

No, if:

• entire project use only the UTF-8, which is a default.
• and you're sure your IDE tool doesn't need that encoding declaration in each file.

Yes, if

• your project relies on different encoding
• or relies on many encodings.

For multi-encodings projects:

If some files are encoded in the non-utf-8, then even for these encoded in UTF-8 you should add encoding declaration too, because the golden rule is Explicit is better than implicit.

Reference:

• PyCharm doesn't need that declaration:

configuring encoding for specific file in pycharm

• vim doesn't need that declaration, but:

# vim: set fileencoding= :