Trouble shooting line continuation error for a long file path for read_csv

I am trying to break up a long file path so that I can read it without having to move the screen to see it.

edgelist = pd.read_csv(r'https://gist.githubusercontent.com/brooksandrew' /
                   r'/e570c38bcc72a8d102422f2af836513b/raw' /
                   r'/89c76b2563dbc0e88384719a35cba0dfc04cd522' / 
                   r'/edgelist_sleeping_giant.csv')

However, I get this error:

TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-4-a0ff45f0f7db> in <module>
      2 edgelist = pd.read_csv(r'https://gist.githubusercontent.com/brooksandrew' /
      3                        r'/e570c38bcc72a8d102422f2af836513b/raw' /
----> 4                        r'/89c76b2563dbc0e88384719a35cba0dfc04cd522' /
      5                        r'/edgelist_sleeping_giant.csv')
      6 edgelist.head(10)

I've looked at some other stack posts, but I don't understand them. I've tried a variety of combinations of removing the forward slash with repositioning the quotes, but I think I'm just grasping at straws. I would love a technical explanation to why I'm getting this error.

BTW, writing the load statement on one line with no ending [isolated] forward slashes (on lines 2, 3, and 4) works, but I can't see the entire statement without sliding the screen view. I'm looking for something readable in one view.

Solution

Line continuations in Python are signaled with backward slashes, you have been using forward slashes.

This should work as intended:

edgelist = pd.read_csv(r'https://gist.githubusercontent.com/brooksandrew' \
                       r'/e570c38bcc72a8d102422f2af836513b/raw' \
                       r'/89c76b2563dbc0e88384719a35cba0dfc04cd522' \
                       r'/edgelist_sleeping_giant.csv')

As there are no backslashes in the URL itself, you don't need to use raw string literals, and can just use standard string literals:

edgelist = pd.read_csv('https://gist.githubusercontent.com/brooksandrew' \
                       '/e570c38bcc72a8d102422f2af836513b/raw' \
                       '/89c76b2563dbc0e88384719a35cba0dfc04cd522' \
                       '/edgelist_sleeping_giant.csv')

You can even remove the quotes, but then all the spaces need to go as well, as they would become part of the resulting string (and won't be a correct URL anymore):

edgelist = pd.read_csv('https://gist.githubusercontent.com/brooksandrew\
/e570c38bcc72a8d102422f2af836513b/raw\
/89c76b2563dbc0e88384719a35cba0dfc04cd522\
/edgelist_sleeping_giant.csv')