python - How to convert a "raw" string into a normal string?

Question

In Python, I have a string like this:

'\x89\n'

How can I decode it into a normal string like:

'x89
'

Answer 1

If your input value is a str string, use codecs.decode() to convert:

import codecs

codecs.decode(raw_unicode_string, 'unicode_escape')

If your input value is a bytes object, you can use the bytes.decode() method:

raw_byte_string.decode('unicode_escape')

Demo:

>>> import codecs
>>> codecs.decode('\x89\n', 'unicode_escape')
'x89
'
>>> b'\x89\n'.decode('unicode_escape')
'x89
'

Python 2 byte strings can be decoded with the 'string_escape' codec:

>>> import sys; sys.version_info[:2]
(2, 7)
>>> '\x89\n'.decode('string_escape')
'x89
'

For Unicode literals (with a u prefix, e.g. u'\x89\n'), use 'unicode_escape'.