Reading a .dat file in Python corrupts the file

Question

I have a dat file of 3D dimensional coordinates that I am trying to read like this:

path = '/path/to/dat-file.dat'

data_content = [i.strip().split() for i in open(path, encoding = 'ISO-8859-1').readLines()]
print(data_content)

This is my output:

...\xad\x05jR|APcAoSNvA07\x9...

Its basically a long cryptic line with letters that have accents as well as letters from the cyrillic alphabet.

Is the way I'm opening this file corrupting it? Where am I going wrong?

Please research how the said `.dat` file is formatted first. `.dat` files are almost always in proprietary format. — blhsing, Sep 01 '22 at 01:43

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 01 '22 at 01:42

0

.dat files contain binary data, not text data, but print() only works with text data. The file is not being corrupted, you are just printing the data in the wrong format. If you want to print the data inside the .dat file and get something meaningful, then you will need to use a library that understands the .dat file format.

answered Sep 01 '22 at 01:42

Michael M.

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So how can I view the contents of this binary data? Does Pandas support it? – Onur-Andros Ozbek Sep 01 '22 at 01:43

Reading a .dat file in Python corrupts the file

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