How do I convert a string into a string of bytes in python 2.7

Question

I'm trying to convert a string coming from raw_input() into a "string of bytes". When I type the variable manually (in the code) it works fine, as it returns me a length of 5. However, when I try to enter the "string of bytes" with raw_input() it returns me a length of 20.

>>> x='\xB2\xB2\xB3\xB4\x01'
>>> len(x)
5
>>> x=raw_input()
\xB2\xB2\xB3\xB4\x01
>>> len(x)
20

I would like to know why this is happening and how can I fix it. Thanks in advance.

raw_input() is 'raw' in the sense that the text is not parsed or escaped before being interpreted as a string. When you assign a text string to a variable at the command prompt, the text is first processed by the python interpreter so that special characters can be converted to the appropriate representation. — gariepy
– gariepy, Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 15:58
raw_input() treats your input literary as ['\', 'x', 'B', '2' ... ]. String and array of bytes is same thing in Python 2.7. — Andrey
– Andrey, Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 15:59
Would you ever actually enter "\x..." as input? Wouldn't you rather be entering "²²³´", which would internally result in the same thing as your first x? — deceze
– deceze ♦, Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 16:01

wpercy · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-22 16:22:01Z

1

When you submit the string "\xB2\xB2\xB3\xB4\x01" to raw_input() it automatically escapes the \ characters because it thinks you mean to enter them as part of a string. This results in the representation of the string to read like this:

In [2]: x=raw_input()
\xB2\xB2\xB3\xB4\x01

In [3]: x
Out[3]: '\\xB2\\xB2\\xB3\\xB4\\x01'

In [4]: print x
\xB2\xB2\xB3\xB4\x01

Unfortunately the answer to your question is basically that you shouldn't be manually entering a string of bytes to raw_input().

answered Feb 22, 2016 at 16:22

wpercy

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