Python: SyntaxError: non-keyword after keyword arg

When I run the following code

def regEx1():
  os.chdir("C:/Users/Luke/Desktop/myFiles")
  files = os.listdir(".")
  os.mkdir("C:/Users/Luke/Desktop/FilesWithRegEx")
  regex_txt = input("Please enter the website your are looking for:")
  for x in (files):
    inputFile = open((x), encoding = "utf8", "r")
    content = inputFile.read()
    inputFile.close()
    regex = re.compile(regex_txt, re.IGNORECASE)
    if re.search(regex, content)is not None:
      shutil.copy(x, "C:/Users/Luke/Desktop/FilesWithRegEx")

I get the following error message which points to the first line after the for loop.

      ^

SyntaxError: non-keyword arg after keyword arg

What is causing this error?

Solution 1:

It's just what it says:

inputFile = open((x), encoding = "utf8", "r")

You have specified encoding as a keyword argument, but "r" as a positional argument. You can't have positional arguments after keyword arguments. Perhaps you wanted to do:

inputFile = open((x), "r", encoding = "utf8")

Solution 2:

To really get this clear, here's my for-beginners answer: You inputed the arguments in the wrong order.
A keyword argument has this style:

nullable=True, unique=False

A fixed parameter should be defined: True, False, etc. A non-keyword argument is different:

name="Ricardo", fruit="chontaduro" 

This syntax error asks you to first put name="Ricardo" and all of its kind (non-keyword) before those like nullable=True.

python keywordnon-keywordsyntax-error