Convert bytes to readable strings in Python 3

Question

I have a .bin file that holds data, however I am not sure of what format or encoding. I want to be able to transform the data into something readable. Formatting is not a problem, I can do that later.

My issue is parsing the file. I've tried to use struct, binascii and codecs with no such luck.

with open(sys.argv[1], 'rb') as f:
    data = f.read()
    lists = list(data)


    # Below returns that each item is class 'bytes' and a number that appears to be <255
    # However, if I add type(i) == bytes it spits an error
    for i in lists:
        print("Type: ", type(data))
        print(i, "\n")

    # Below returns that the class is 'bytes' and prints like this: b'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xdd\x07\x00\x00\x0b\x00\x00\x00\x18\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x0e\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08@\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xa0=\xa1D\xc0\x00\x00\x00\x00t\xdfe@
    # To my knowledge, this looks like hex notation. 
    print("Data type: ", type(data))
    print(data)

However, there should be someway to convert this into characters I can read i.e. letters or numbers, represented in a string. I seem to be over-complicating things, as I'm sure there's an inbuilt method that is being elusive.

By "characters I can read", do you mean something you can look at and understand, or do you just want characters? Printing it already meets the requirement, strictly speaking; you get characters b, ', x, 0, etc., and you can read them. On the other hand, if you want "readable" in the sense of something you can understand, you may be out of luck. For all you know, this data is a JPG or a RAR archive. — user2357112
– user2357112, Commented Feb 4, 2014 at 2:55

falsetru · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-04 02:36:41Z

1

Use binascii.hexlify:

>>> import binascii
>>> binascii.hexlify(b'\x00t\xdfe@')
b'0074df6540'

answered Feb 4, 2014 at 2:36

falsetru

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