Python 3 bytes vs strings

Question

This may be a duplicate but I can't solve my problem. This line gives me the error

TypeError: 'str' does not support the buffer interface .

unescaped = html.replace(r'\""', '"')

Does it mean I have to write

unescaped = html.replace(bytes(r'\""', 'UTF-8'), bytes('"', 'UTF-8'))

Each time I need to replace a string?

Thank you in advance.

possible duplicate of TypeError: 'str' does not support the buffer interface — GolezTrol
– GolezTrol, Commented Jun 13, 2015 at 8:17
Where do you get the html from (and what encoding is it)? I would guess that you should decode the html, then replace (or do whatever you want with the html) and at the end, if you need it, encode it back to what encoding you need it to be. — syntonym
– syntonym, Commented Jun 13, 2015 at 8:21
@GolezTrol: there surely are better dupes than that. This is about literal values, not string data read from somewhere else. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Jun 13, 2015 at 8:24

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-13 08:23:22Z

3

You are using literal values so just use a bytes literal string, with a b prefix:

unescaped = html.replace(rb'\""', b'"')

answered Jun 13, 2015 at 8:23

Martijn Pieters

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