Last Updated : 01 Jul, 2024
In Python we have decode() is a method specified in Strings. This method is used to convert from one encoding scheme, in which the argument string is encoded to the desired encoding scheme. This works opposite to the encode. It accepts the encoding of the encoding string to decode it and returns the original string.
Python Decode() Function Syntax
Syntax:decode(encoding, error)
Parameters:
- encoding : Specifies the encoding on the basis of which decoding has to be performed.
- error : Decides how to handle the errors if they occur, e.g ‘strict’ raises Unicode error in case of exception and ‘ignore’ ignores the errors occurred.
- Returns : Returns the original string from the encoded string.
Encode and Decode a String in Python
The above code is an example of encoding and decoding. Here first we encoded the string using UTF-8 and then decoded it which gives the same output String as we give it in input.
Python3 # initializing stringString = "geeksforgeeks"encoded_string = String.encode('utf-8')print('The encoded string in base64 format is :')print(encoded_string)decoded_string = encoded_string.decode('utf-8')print('The decoded string is :')print(decoded_string)Output:
The encoded string in base64 format is :
b'geeksforgeeks'
The decoded string is :
geeksforgeeks
Application of Encode-Decode
Encoding and decoding together can be used in the simple applications of storing passwords in the back end and many other applications like cryptography which deals with keeping information confidential. A small demonstration of the password application is depicted below.
Python3 import base64user = "geeksforgeeks"passw = "i_lv_coding"# Converting password to base64 encodingpassw_encoded = base64.b64encode(passw.encode('utf-8')).decode('utf-8')user_login = "geeksforgeeks"# Wrongly entered passwordpass_wrong = "geeksforgeeks"print("Password entered:", pass_wrong)if pass_wrong == base64.b64decode(passw_encoded).decode('utf-8'): print("You are logged in!")else: print("Wrong Password!")print()# Correctly entered passwordpass_right = "i_lv_coding"print("Password entered:", pass_right)if pass_right == base64.b64decode(passw_encoded).decode('utf-8'): print("You are logged in!")else: print("Wrong Password!")Output:
Password entered : geeksforgeeks
Wrong Password!!
Password entered : i_lv_coding
You are logged in!!
Working of the Python Decode() Method?
The following flowchart shows the working of Python decoding:
Decode()
Python Strings decode() method – FAQs
How to use decode in Python 3?
In Python 3, the decode method is used to convert a bytes object into a str (string) object by decoding it from a specific encoding.
Example:
# Define a bytes object
bytes_obj = b'Hello, world!'# Decode bytes object to string using UTF-8 encoding
string_obj = bytes_obj.decode('utf-8')
print(string_obj) # Output: Hello, world!
Here, decode('utf-8') converts the bytes object from UTF-8 encoding to a string.
What does .decode('utf-8') do?
The .decode('utf-8') method converts a bytes object into a str object using the UTF-8 encoding. UTF-8 is a variable-width character encoding used for text.
Example:
# Define a bytes object with UTF-8 encoding
bytes_obj = b'\xe2\x9c\x94'# Decode bytes object to string
string_obj = bytes_obj.decode('utf-8')
print(string_obj) # Output: ✓
What is string decoding?
String decoding is the process of converting encoded bytes back into a string. It interprets bytes according to a specified character encoding to produce a readable string.
Example:
# Define a bytes object
bytes_obj = b'Hello'# Decode bytes object to string
string_obj = bytes_obj.decode('utf-8')
print(string_obj) # Output: Hello
What is an example of decode?
Here’s a basic example of how to use the decode method with a bytes object:
Example:
# Define a bytes object
bytes_data = b'Hello, Python!'# Decode bytes object to string using UTF-8 encoding
text = bytes_data.decode('utf-8')
print(text) # Output: Hello, Python!
What is encode() in Python?
The encode() method is used to convert a string into a bytes object using a specific encoding. This is the reverse of decode().
Example:
# Define a string
text = 'Hello, world!'# Encode string to bytes using UTF-8 encoding
bytes_obj = text.encode('utf-8')
print(bytes_obj) # Output: b'Hello, world!'
Additional Example of encode():
# Define a string
text = 'Hello, Python!'# Encode string to bytes
bytes_data = text.encode('utf-8')
print(bytes_data) # Output: b'Hello, Python!'
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FAQs
Overview. The python decode method is used to decode the encoded form of a string. The python decode uses the codecs that are registered for encoding. By default, the python decode uses the UTF-8 encoding value. It is used to convert bytes to string objects.
What is the opposite of encode in Python? ›
In Python we have decode() is a method specified in Strings. This method is used to convert from one encoding scheme, in which the argument string is encoded to the desired encoding scheme. This works opposite to the encode.
How to encode a message in Python? ›
Use the . encode() method on your string to encode it. For example, to encode into UTF-8, use 'your string'. encode('utf-8').
What is an example of an encoded string? ›
Explanation: The input list of strings is encoded as a single string where '#' separates the length of the string and the actual string. So "hello" is represented as "5#hello" and "world" is represented as "5#world". The two strings are then concatenated to form the final encoded string "5#hello5#world".
What is an example of decode? ›
Examples of decode in a Sentence
Readers can easily decode the novel's imagery. I'm trying to decode the expression on her face. The box decodes the digital signal for your CD player.
How does decode function work? ›
You can use the ENCODE function to encode a string that contains double-byte characters. The ENCODE function performs a one-way encoding operation that you cannot reverse. It is useful for storing scrambled copies of passwords in a database. It is impossible to determine the original password by examining the database.
What is the difference between encode and decode methods in Python? ›
In the Python programming language, encoding represents a Unicode string as a string of bytes. This commonly occurs when you transfer an instance over a network or save it to a disk file. Decoding transforms a string of bytes into a Unicode string.
How many types of encoding are there in Python? ›
Python comes with roughly 100 different encodings; see the Python Library Reference at Standard Encodings for a list. Some encodings have multiple names; for example, 'latin-1' , 'iso_8859_1' and '8859 ' are all synonyms for the same encoding.
What is encode () in Python? ›
The encode() function in Python is responsible for returning the encoded form of any given string. The code points are translated into a series of bytes to efficiently store such strings. This process is defined as encoding. Python uses utf-8 as its encoding by default.
What is the default decode in Python? ›
Python Bytes decode()
The default is 'strict' meaning that encoding errors raise a UnicodeEncodeError. Some other possible values are 'ignore', 'replace' and 'xmlcharrefreplace'. Let's look at a simple example of python string encode() decode() functions.
You can use the decode() method to convert bytes to a string in Python. It works just like the encode() variable: attach the variable to be converted using dot notation and specify the encoding type as the method's parameter. In the code above, we created a bytes object called byte_data .
How do you convert a string to encoding in Python? ›
Python makes it straightforward to convert a string into bytes using the built-in . encode() method: my_string = "Hello, world!" bytes_representation = my_string. encode(encoding="utf-8") # Optional: Specify the desired encoding (UTF-8 is the default) print(bytes_representation) # Output: b'Hello, world!
What is the most common string encoding? ›
UTF-8 has been the most common encoding for the World Wide Web since 2008.
What does a string look like in coding? ›
The technical description of a String is: an array of characters. The informal view of a string is a sentence. Strings are almost always written in code as a quoted sequence of characters, i.e., "this is a string".
Which encodings can you put in a string? ›
Strings encoded with the "latin1" (or "ISO-8859-1") character set, where each character is represented with one byte. Strings encoded with the "UTF-8" character set, where each character is represented with a sequence of from one to four bytes. This encoding can represent a wide range of Unicode characters.
What is decrypt in Python? ›
Decryption is the process of decoding the encoded data. Converting the ciphertext into plain text. This process requires a key that we used for encryption. We require a key for encryption.
What does decode explain? ›
to discover the meaning of information given in a secret or complicated way: Decoding the paintings is not difficult once you know what the component parts symbolize. Compare. encode. [ I or T ] language specialized.
What does .decode UTF-8 do? ›
decode('utf-8') method to convert the UTF-8 encoded bytes back into a string of Unicode characters. Most modern programming languages provide similar functionality, allowing for the easy decoding of UTF-8 encoded data. You can use Akto's UTF8 Decoder to decode a UTF-8 string.
What is decode error in Python? ›
One of the most common errors during these conversions is UnicodeDecode Error which occurs when decoding a byte string by an incorrect coding scheme. This article will teach you how to resolve a UnicodeDecodeError for a CSV file in Python.
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