error in os.chdir

[Sharan Basappa]

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I need to change directory to my local working directory in windows and then open a file for processing.
Its just a 3 lines code, as below:
import csv
import os
os.chdir('D:\Projects\Initiatives\machine learning\programs\assertion')
The error is as follows:
WindowsError: [Error 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect: 'D:\Projects\Initiatives\machine learning\programs\x07ssertion'
Notice x07 character that has replaced character x07.
I have a similar code but that goes through fine:
import csv
import os
os.chdir('D:\Projects\Initiatives\machine learning\programs')

with open('example.csv') as csvfile:
    readCSV = csv.reader(csvfile, delimiter=',')
The only difference is directory assertion in the problematic code.
I have tried single quoting, double quoting etc. for the chdir directive but nothing helps. I have also tried escaping as \assertion but that is not the issue