How To Use Python String Encode() Method

In this tutorial, we’ll learn what Python string encode() method is and how to properly use it with the help of an easy and detailed Python code examples.

Outline

Introduction: Python String encode() Method
Syntax of encode() Method
Parameters of encode() Method
Example 1: Encode a String to Default Utf-8 Encoding
Example 2: Using Error Parameter of Encoding
Python String Encoding
Conclusion

Introduction: Python String encode() Method

This method is used to return an encoded version of a string in Python.

Syntax of encode() Method

string.encode(encoding='UTF-8',errors='strict')

Python string encode() method does not take any arguments by default.
It converts and returns the string into a utf-8 encoded version.
It can raise a unicodeDecodeError exception if something goes wrong or if it fails.

Parameters of encode() Method

Python string encode() method takes two parameters(optional). They are listed below:

encoding – It is used to type a string has to be encoded to.
errors – They are actually responses when the encoding fails. Listed below are the six type of error responses.

strict – It is used for a default response which raises a UnicodeDecodeError exception when failure occurs.
ignore – It ignores the unencodable unicode from the result.
replace – It is use to replaces the unencodable unicode with a question mark ?
xmlcharrefreplace – It inserts XML character reference instead of unencodable unicode.
backslashreplace – Used to inserts a \uNNNN escape sequence instead of unencodable unicode.
namereplace – It’s used to inserts a \N{…} escape sequence instead of unencodable unicode.

Example 1: Encode a String to Default Utf-8 Encoding

stringval='pythön!'    // unicode string
print(stringval.encode())

Output

b'pyth\xc3\xb6n!'     //encoded version of string

Example 2: Using Error Parameter of Encoding

stringval='pythön!'
print(stringval)
print(stringval.encode("ascii", "ignore"))
print(stringval.encode("ascii", "replace"))

Output

pythön! 
b'pythn!'    // with ignore
b'pyth?n!'   // with replace

Practice it with other error parameters as well.

Python String Encoding

Since version 3.0 of Python, strings of characters are stored as Unicode, i.e. each character of a string is represented by a code point. So, each string consists of a sequence of Unicode code points.

The sequence of code points is converted into a set of bytes, known as encoding.

There is a wide variety of encodings that distinguish strings from one another. The commonly used encodings being utf-8, ascii, etc.

By using Python string encode() method, we can convert unicode strings into any encodings supported by Python. By default, Python makes use of utf-8 encoding.

Conclusion

To conclude this tutorial, hope you now have an in-depth practical knowledge of how to easily use Python string encode method. I’ll be looking forward to receive your valuable feedback on this post. Thank you for reading it.