JSON
Python JSONDecodeError Expecting Value Line 1 Column 1
Why json.loads or response.json() raises Expecting value at line 1 column 1 in Python, how to see what the text really is, and a checklist for each cause.
7 min read
Tag
error-fix
93 posts
CSV
Why a CSV Shows Strange Characters Instead of Accents
Seeing odd letter pairs where accents belong means UTF-8 was read as a legacy encoding. See the byte level cause and a table of symptoms.
7 min read
XML
Python ParseError Unbound Prefix in XML and How to Fix It
Fix ElementTree ParseError unbound prefix and lxml Namespace prefix is not defined: fragments cut from a document, auto-declared prefixes, recover.
7 min read
YAML
YAML Error Found Character That Cannot Start Any Token
Which characters trigger this scanner error, a tab, at sign, backtick or percent sign, what each looks like in output and the fix that clears it.
6 min read
CSV
How to Detect the Encoding of a CSV File Before You Load It
Four encoding detectors gave four different answers on the same six files. See which ones to trust, how to cross check them, and when only the sender knows.
7 min read
XML
Mismatched Tag Errors in Large XML Files and Finding Them
Locate an Opening and ending tag mismatch in a 28.6 MB XML file four ways: the parser, per-tag counts, record-by-record parsing and bisection, with timings.
6 min read
JSON
Fixing JSON Copied From a Web Page With Smart Quotes
JSON pasted from a web page, a chat or a Word file fails on curly quotes and invisible spaces. How to spot each character and clean the text safely.
8 min read
CSVGuide
Fixing Garbled Text in CSV Files and Keeping It Fixed
Why accents, euro signs and emoji break in CSV files, how to diagnose each symptom from the bytes, and one routine that converts, loads and checks a file.
21 min read
YAML
YAML Error Mapping Values Are Not Allowed Here Fixed
What mapping values are not allowed here means, three causes found in real files, an unquoted colon, a stray space and a double value, and the fix for each.
6 min read
XML
Content Is Not Allowed in Prolog and the Hidden BOM
What Content is not allowed in prolog means in Java: a BOM decoded to text, a double BOM, JSON or text instead of XML, and how to diagnose it.
6 min read
JSON
Finding the Exact Line of a JSON Syntax Error in Any Parser
Every JSON parser reports a position in a different way. How to turn a character offset into a line, a column and a caret in Python, Node and jq.
9 min read
XML
Undefined Entity Errors in XML and the Ampersand Problem
Fix undefined entity and Entity not defined errors in XML from HTML entities like nbsp and eacute: convert to numeric references, a DOCTYPE, or lxml recover.
6 min read