Defining the Encoding

Python will default to ASCII as standard encoding if no other encoding hints are given.

To define a source code encoding, a magic comment must be placed into the source files either as first or second line in the file, such as:

# coding=<encoding name>

or (using formats recognized by popular editors):

#!/usr/bin/python
# -*- coding: <encoding name> -*-

or:

#!/usr/bin/python
# vim: set fileencoding=<encoding name> :

Reference