TypeError: decoding str is not supported, when encoding is explicitly specified

Question

Any idea why this is happening when encoding is explicitly specified?

In [23]: import sys

In [24]: sys.getdefaultencoding()
Out[24]: 'utf-8'

In [25]: str(b'', encoding='utf-8') == ''
Out[25]: True

In [26]: str('') == ''
Out[26]: True

In [27]: str('', encoding='utf-8') == ''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-27-e187972042f8> in <module>()
----> 1 str('', encoding='utf-8') == ''

TypeError: decoding str is not supported

According to the docs of str:

encoding defaults to sys.getdefaultencoding()

You seem to think that str('') decodes using the default encoding. It doesn't. It doesn't decode at all. — Stefan Pochmann
– Stefan Pochmann, Commented Feb 1, 2018 at 17:47

Mike Müller · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-01 17:47:05Z

2

The help is pretty clear here:

str(object='') -> str

str(bytes_or_buffer[, encoding[, errors]]) -> str

Create a new string object from the given object. If encoding or errors is specified, then the object must expose a data buffer that will be decoded using the given encoding and error handler. Otherwise, returns the result of object.str() (if defined) or repr(object). encoding defaults to sys.getdefaultencoding(). errors defaults to 'strict'.

You can specify the encoding only for bytes (b'') not for strings such as ''.

answered Feb 1, 2018 at 17:47

Mike Müller

86k21 gold badges174 silver badges165 bronze badges

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

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

TypeError: decoding str is not supported, when encoding is explicitly specified

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related