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Asked: 2026-05-22T12:22:01+00:00

At the start of a python file (first line) sometimes I read # -*-

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At the start of a python file (first line) sometimes I read

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

and sometimes I read

# encoding: utf-8

Both lines seem to do the same thing: specifying utf8 as encoding for all the text put in the file.

I have to questions:

  1. Why does this even work? I thought the interpreter ignores everything after a # because it invokes a comment.
  2. What is the difference between the two lines above? Does the interpreter just ignore the -*-?
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The two forms are equivalent. The -*- version is a special kind of comment that Emacs understands. See PEP 263 for more information.

    If a comment like in either of these forms is one of the first two lines of a file, the interpreter will use the specified encoding to read the file.

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