cost= "£56"
       currencySymbol = cost[0]
       print (currencySymbol, cost[1:])

Â: £56

import re
cost= "£560,000"
match = re.search(r'([D]+)([d,]+)', cost)
output = (match.group(1), match.group(2).replace(',',''))
print (output);

output -->('£', '560000')

cost= "£56"
currencySymbol = cost[0]
print (currencySymbol, cost[1:])
#when using file use encoding
with open('index.html', encoding="UTF-8") as productFile: