# Help with Readlines error

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-readlines-error/84987>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 9, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-readlines-error/84987 "2007-02-09T00:31:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bucco)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-readlines-error/84987/1 "2007-02-09T00:31:30Z")

</div>

I don’t know if it is me or if something is wrong with Ruby. I am  
using ruby 1.8.5 (2006-08-25) [i386-mswin32] on an XP box. I am  
following alon with some examples for readline in my new “Everyday  
Scripting with Ruby” book. The book has me in irb and is explaining  
File.open(‘somefile.txt’).readlines. I am not getting the same  
output. My output has each word as a member of the array, but each  
character of each word has a \000 in front of the character. for  
example:

irb(main):002:0\> new\_inventory = File.open(‘new-  
inventory.txt’).readlines  
=\> ["\377\376e\000x\000e\000r\000c\000i\000s\000e\000-\000d\000i\000f  
\000f\000e  
000r\000e\000n\000c\000e\000s\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n", “\000i\000n  
\000v\000e  
\000n\000t\000o\000r\000y\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n”, “\000n\000e\000w  
\000-\000  
i\000n\000v\000e\000n\000t\000o\000r\000y\000.\000t\000x\000t\000\r  
\000\n”, “\00  
0o\000l\000d\000-\000i\000n\000v\000e\000n\000t\000o\000r\000y  
\000.\000t\000x\00  
0t\000\r\000\n”, “\000r\000e\000c\000y\000c\000l\000e\000r\000\r  
\000\n”, “\000r  
000e\000c\000y\000c\000l\000e\000r\000/\000i\000n\000s\000t\000-  
\0003\0009\000.  
000t\000m\000p\000\r\000\n”, “\000s\000n\000a\000p\000s\000h\000o\000t  
\000s\000  
r\000\n”, “\000s\000n\000a\000p\000s\000h\000o\000t\000s\000/\000d\000i  
\000f\000  
f\000e\000r\000e\000n\000c\000e\000s\000-\000v\000e\000r\000s\000i\000o  
\000n\000  
-\0001\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n”, “\000s\000n\000a\000p\000s\000h  
\000o\000t\00  
0s\000/\000d\000i\000f\000f\000e\000r\000e\000n\000c\000e\000s\000-  
\000v\000e\00  
0r\000s\000i\000o\000n\000-\0002\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n”, “\000s  
\000n\000a\0  
00p\000s\000h\000o\000t\000s\000/\000d\000i\000f\000f\000e\000r\000e  
\000n\000c\0  
00e\000s\000-\000v\000e\000r\000s\000i\000o\000n\000-\0003\000.\000r  
\000b\000\r  
000\n”, “\000s\000n\000a\000p\000s\000h\000o\000t\000s\000/\000d\000i  
\000f\000f  
000e\000r\000e\000n\000c\000e\000s\000-\000v\000e\000r\000s\000i\000o  
\000n\000-  
0004\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n”, “\000s\000n\000a\000p\000s\000h\000o  
\000t\000s  
\000/\000d\000i\000f\000f\000e\000r\000e\000n\000c\000e\000s\000-\000v  
\000e\000r  
\000s\000i\000o\000n\000-\0005\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n”, “\000s\000n  
\000a\000  
p\000s\000h\000o\000t\000s\000/\000d\000i\000f\000f\000e\000r\000e\000n  
\000c\000  
e\000s\000-\000v\000e\000r\000s\000i\000o\000n\000-\0006\000.\000r\000b  
\000\r\00  
0\n”, “\000s\000n\000a\000p\000s\000h\000o\000t\000s\000/\000d\000i  
\000f\000f\00  
0e\000r\000e\000n\000c\000e\000s\000-\000v\000e\000r\000s\000i\000o  
\000n\000-\00  
07\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n”, “\000s\000n\000a\000p\000s\000h\000o  
\000t\000s\0  
00/\000d\000i\000f\000f\000e\000r\000e\000n\000c\000e\000s\000-\000v  
\000e\000r\0  
00s\000i\000o\000n\000-\0008\000.\000r\000b\000\r\000\n”, “\000t\000e  
\000m\000p  
000\r\000\n”, “\000t\000e\000m\000p\000/\000i\000n\000s\000t\000-  
\0003\0009\000  
r\000\n”, “\000”]

Any ideas what is wrong?

Thanks:)

SA

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bucco)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-readlines-error/84987/2 "2007-02-09T00:37:31Z")

</div>

Well I could be crazy, but that looks like unicode to me.

–Kyle

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Bucco](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bucco)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-readlines-error/84987/3 "2007-02-09T19:41:15Z")

</div>

Hi!  
There is nothing wrong: you are reading the data in Unicode, namely in  
UCS2 - fixed 2-byte representation of string characters.  
Here’s my test program:  
= = =  
data = File.open(‘unicode.txt’).readlines  
p data  
puts data  
= = =  
and its output:

["\377\376T\000h\000i\000s\000 \000i\000s\000 \000a\000  
\000l\000i\000n\000e\000 \000i\000n\000  
\000U\000n\000i\000c\000o\000d\000e\000  
\000(\000U\000S\000C\0002\000)\000.\000"]  
This is a line in Unicode (USC2).

Regards -  
Mike S.

Bucco wrote:

> inventory.txt’).readlines  
> =\> ["\377\376e\000x\000e\000r\000c\000i\000s\000e\000-\000d\000i\000f  
> \000f\000e\

…