Sentry Answers>Python>

Convert bytes to a string in Python

Convert bytes to a string in Python

David Y.

The ProblemJump To Solution

How can I convert a sequence of bytes to a string using Python?

The Solution

We can do this using Python’s [bytes.decode()] method:

Click to Copy
my_byte_sequence = b'Sample' my_string = my_byte_sequence.decode()

By default, this method will assume that the bytes sequence is encoded as UTF-8. To convert a bytes sequence with a different supported encoding, we can provide an argument to decode(). For example, if our sequence is encoded as ASCII:

Click to Copy
my_ascii_string = my_byte_sequence.decode("ascii")

Note that if the byte sequence contains invalid characters for the specified encoding, a UnicodeDecodeError will be raised. In that case, you can try a different encoding.

  • Sentry BlogPython Performance Testing: A Comprehensive Guide
  • Sentry BlogLogging in Python: A Developer’s Guide
  • Syntax.fm logo
    Listen to the Syntax Podcast

    Tasty Treats for Web Developers brought to you by Sentry. Web development tips and tricks hosted by Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski

    Listen to Syntax

Loved by over 4 million developers and more than 90,000 organizations worldwide, Sentry provides code-level observability to many of the world’s best-known companies like Disney, Peloton, Cloudflare, Eventbrite, Slack, Supercell, and Rockstar Games. Each month we process billions of exceptions from the most popular products on the internet.

© 2024 • Sentry is a registered Trademark
of Functional Software, Inc.