Converting string from Python3 to dict

Question

How can I convert this string bellow from Python3 to a Json?

This is my code:

import ast
mystr = b'[{\'1459161763632\': \'this_is_a_test\'}, {\'1459505002853\': "{\'hello\': 12345}"}, {\'1459505708472\': "{\'world\': 98765}"}]'
chunk = str(mystr)
chunk = ast.literal_eval(chunk)
print(chunk)

Running from Python2 I get:

[{'1459161763632': 'this_is_a_test'}, {'1459505002853': "{'hello': 12345}"}, {'1459505708472': "{'world': 98765}"}]

Running from Python3 I get:

b'[{\'1459161763632\': \'this_is_a_test\'}, {\'1459505002853\': "{\'hello\': 12345}"}, {\'1459505708472\': "{\'world\': 98765}"}]'

How can I run from Python3 and get the same result as Python2?

For Py3: chunk.decode('utf8') or mystr.decode('utf8')

AndreyT
– AndreyT

2016-04-01 10:43:39 +00:00
Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 10:43 — AndreyT
– AndreyT, Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 10:43

Iron Fist · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-01 10:49:46Z

3

What you have in mystr is in bytes format, just decode it into ascii and then evaluate it:

>>> ast.literal_eval(mystr.decode('ascii'))
[{'1459161763632': 'this_is_a_test'}, {'1459505002853': "{'hello': 12345}"}, {'1459505708472': "{'world': 98765}"}]

Or in a more general case, to avoid issues with unicodes characters,

>>> ast.literal_eval(mystr.decode('utf-8'))
[{'1459161763632': 'this_is_a_test'}, {'1459505002853': "{'hello': 12345}"}, {'1459505708472': "{'world': 98765}"}]

And since, default decoding scheme is utf-8 which you can see from:

>>> help(mystr.decode)
Help on built-in function decode:

decode(...) method of builtins.bytes instance
    B.decode(encoding='utf-8', errors='strict') -> str
...

Then, you don't have to specify the encoding scheme:

>>> ast.literal_eval(mystr.decode())
[{'1459161763632': 'this_is_a_test'}, {'1459505002853': "{'hello': 12345}"}, {'1459505708472': "{'world': 98765}"}]

edited Apr 1, 2016 at 10:49

answered Apr 1, 2016 at 10:44

Iron Fist

11k2 gold badges21 silver badges36 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Tom Rees Over a year ago

Good answer, I've added some information about the source of the confusion, namely the 'b' prefix, to an answer below. Feel free to edit that into your own answer if you think it will help other readers.

Iron Fist Over a year ago

@TomRees ... Let's keep it for your answer, you did effort for that, so you must be rewarded... ;)

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:07:51Z

2

Iron Fist beat me to the fix. To extend his answer, the 'b' prefix on the string indicates (to python3 but not python2) that the literal should be interpreted as a byte sequence, not a string.

The result is that the .decode method is needed to convert the bytes back into a string. Python2 doesn't make this distinction between the bytes and strings, hence the difference.

See What does the 'b' character do in front of a string literal? for more information on this.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:07

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Apr 1, 2016 at 10:46

Tom Rees

4552 silver badges10 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Converting string from Python3 to dict

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related