Install & Compatibility
Where this runs
tested against v3.2.0 · pip install
no network on importno background threads
Install × environment matrix
Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux
muslpy 3.10–3.95 runs
installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.010s · 22.2MB
glibcpy 3.10–3.95 runs
installs and imports cleanly · install 1.6s · import 0.010s · 19MB
18MB installed
● package 18MB
Code
Verified usage
Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.
detect
✓ from cchardet import detect
✗ import cchardet as chardet
UniversalDetector
✓ from cchardet import UniversalDetector
version
✓ from cchardet import version
This example demonstrates how to import `cchardet` and use its `detect` function to identify the encoding of a byte string.
import cchardet as chardet
# Example 1: Detect encoding of a known byte string
text_bytes_utf8 = b"Hello, world!\xc3\xa9 This has a \xc3\xa9 character."
result_utf8 = chardet.detect(text_bytes_utf8)
print(f"UTF-8 example: {result_utf8}")
text_bytes_latin1 = "Français".encode('latin-1')
result_latin1 = chardet.detect(text_bytes_latin1)
print(f"Latin-1 example: {result_latin1}")
# The result is a dictionary containing 'encoding', 'confidence', and 'language'.
Debug
Known issues
gotchaThis library is a fork of the original `cchardet` project, which is no longer maintained and can have build issues, especially with newer Python versions or operating systems. Always install `faust-cchardet` for the actively maintained version.fixEnsure `pip install faust-cchardet` is used, and check your `requirements.txt` or `pyproject.toml` to specify `faust-cchardet`.
affects: All versions, when attempting to use the original `cchardet` package.
gotchaThe Python package name is `faust-cchardet`, but the module you import in your Python code is `cchardet`.fixUse `import cchardet as chardet` (or just `import cchardet`) in your code after installing `faust-cchardet`.
affects: All versions
breakingPython 2.7 support was dropped in version 2.1.6.fixUpgrade to Python 3.x if using `faust-cchardet` version 2.1.6 or newer. Previous versions (2.1.5 and earlier) might still support Python 2.7, but are not recommended due to lack of maintenance and security updates.
affects: 2.1.6 and later
gotcha`faust-cchardet` provides C bindings to `uchardet` for performance. Do not confuse it with the pure Python `chardet` library, which has its own breaking changes and API differences (e.g., in `chardet` 7.0.0, Python 3.7-3.9 support was dropped, which may not apply to `faust-cchardet`).fixRefer to `faust-cchardet` documentation for its specific API and version compatibility. Do not assume `chardet` library changes apply directly.
affects: All versions
Upgrade
Version history
3.2.0latest on PyPI · released Aug 10, 2026
Audit
Dependencies
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