title: Python: Convert Unicode to ASCII without errors for CSV file
body: <p>I've been reading all questions regarding conversion from Unicode to CSV in Python here in StackOverflow and I'm still lost. Everytime I receive a "UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xd1' in position 12: ordinal not in range(128)"</p>
  
  <pre><code>buffer=cStringIO.StringIO()
  writer=csv.writer(buffer, csv.excel)
  cr.execute(query, query_param)
  while (1):
      row = cr.fetchone()
      writer.writerow([s.encode('ascii','ignore') for s in row])
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The value of <em>row</em> is</p>
  
  <pre><code>(56, u"LIMPIADOR BA\xd1O 1'5 L")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>where the value of \xd10 at the database is ñ, a n with a diacritical tilde used in Spanish. At first I tried to convert the value to something valid in ascii, but after losing so much time I'm trying only to ignore those characters (I suppose I'd have the same problem with accented vowels).</p>
  
  <p>I'd like to save the value to the CSV, preferably with the ñ ("LIMPIADOR BAÑO 1'5 L"), but if not possible, at least be able to save it ("LIMPIADOR BAO 1'5 L").</p>