SQLite, python, unicode, and non-utf data

Question

I started by trying to store strings in sqlite using python, and got the message:

sqlite3.ProgrammingError: You must not use 8-bit bytestrings unles

Answer 1

My unicode problems with Python 2.x (Python 2.7.6 to be specific) fixed this:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

from __future__ import unicode_literals
import sys
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding('utf-8')

It also solved the error you are mentioning right at the beginning of the post:

sqlite3.ProgrammingError: You must not use 8-bit bytestrings unless ...

EDIT

sys.setdefaultencoding is a dirty hack. Yes, it can solve UTF-8 issues, but everything comes with a price. For more details refer to following links:

• Why sys.setdefaultencoding() will break code
• Why we need sys.setdefaultencoding(“utf-8”) in a py script?