How do I put bytes object in a string? Python

Question

I have an RSA encrypted message (bytes)
I want to make a string: f'!e {encrypted_message}'
Then I need to encode it so I can send it through socket

I try to decode my message so I can put it in a string, but instead I get this:

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xc4.

How do I put my message (bytes object) in a string?

You have to decode the bytes to a str... but why move to a string if you are just going to encode it? Why not b'!e ' + message? — juanpa.arrivillaga
– juanpa.arrivillaga, Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 17:33
@juanpa.arrivillaga Good question. My answer assumes their socket protocol is text-oriented. — AKX
– AKX, Commented Aug 11, 2021 at 17:34

AKX · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-11 17:38:12Z

2

If you really do need a text (ASCII for the sake of this discussion) string with a !e prefix for your wire protocol, the bullet-proof way to turn any bytes to text is Base64.

Happily, base64.b64encode() returns bytes, so you can use a bytestring and +.

import base64

my_bytes = b'asdf'
bytes_with_prefix_for_the_socket = b'!e ' + base64.b64encode(my_bytes)

edited Aug 11, 2021 at 17:38

answered Aug 11, 2021 at 17:34

AKX

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