Converting Python byte string to UTF-8/ASCII

Question

I am working on sending bytes to a USB device from a Python application. An example payload looks as follows:

a = bytearray(b'\x00\xb4nn\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00')

What I am curious about is the nn part, following \xb4nn - the string, in the current form, cannot be converted to either UTF-8 or ASCII. In some payload cases, that string can also be \xb4n, which seems like an odd way to present HEX information.

What is nn in a byte string?

It doesn't sound like this bytestring actually represents text, so trying to interpret it as UTF-8 or ASCII doesn't make sense. — user2357112
– user2357112, Commented Jun 28, 2020 at 0:23
Makes sense. Let's assume that it's not representing text then - what can I do to understand what that nn part represents? — Den
– Den, Commented Jun 28, 2020 at 0:25
Two \x6e bytes. Bytes that correspond to regular ascii characters are displayed as those characters in a bytestring repr. There's probably a dupe around here somewhere. — user2357112
– user2357112, Commented Jun 28, 2020 at 0:38
nn means exactly nn - two chars n. If you need its hex code - hex(ord('n')) — furas
– furas, Commented Jun 28, 2020 at 3:05

Mark Tolonen · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-28 07:20:20Z

1

Printable ASCII byte values are displayed as ASCII. It is only a display convention, similar to the leading b indicating a byte string. The byte values are still the same. For example, ASCII n is the byte value 0x6E, and if you create a byte string with these values, it will be displayed as:

>>> b'\x6e\x6e'
b'nn'

Also:

>>> b'\x6e\x6e' == b'nn'
True

answered Jun 28, 2020 at 7:20

Mark Tolonen

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