MATLAB: Do I receive an error about “undefined symbol: PyUnicodeU​CS4_Decode​UTF16” when importing MATLAB engine module in Python 2.7 on Linux

engineMATLABpythonpyunicodeucs4_decodeutf16

I can input "import matlab" successfully, but when I input "import matlab.engine", the terminal will print "
Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in module File "/home/usr/Documents/Python/matlab_engines_install/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matlab/engine/__init__.py", line 62, in module 'MathWorks Technical Support for assistance: %s' % e) EnvironmentError: Please reinstall MATLAB Engine for Python or contact MathWorks Technical Support for assistance: /cad/adi/apps/mathworks/matlab/2017b/extern/engines/python/dist/matlab/engine/glnxa64/matlabengineforpython2_7.so: undefined symbol: PyUnicodeUCS4_DecodeUTF16".
The version of matlab & python is matlab 2017b and Python 2.7.9, both are 64 bit, but sys.maxunicode is narrow.

Best Answer

The build of this Python distribution uses narrow Unicode while Python Engine is built to support wide Unicode:
"To enable wide-unicode support for Python 2.7 on Linux, configure the build with the --enable-unicode=ucs4 option."
https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_external/system-requirements-for-matlab-engine-for-python.html
Related Question