Python bytes()

In this tutorial, we will learn about the Python bytes() method with the help of examples.

The bytes() method returns an immutable bytes object initialized with the given size and data.

Example

message = 'Python is fun'

# convert string to bytes
byte_message = bytes(message, 'utf-8')
print(byte_message)

# Output: b'Python is fun'

1. bytes() Syntax

The syntax of bytes() method is:

bytes(]])

bytes() method returns a bytes object which is an immutable (cannot be modified) sequence of integers in the range 0 <=x < 256.

If you want to use the mutable version, use the bytearray() method.

2. bytes() Parameters

bytes() takes three optional parameters:

• source (Optional) – source to initialize the array of bytes.
• encoding (Optional) – if the source is a string, the encoding of the string.
• errors (Optional) – if the source is a string, the action to take when the encoding conversion fails (Read more: String encoding)

The source parameter can be used to initialize the byte array in the following ways:

Type	Description
String	Converts the string to bytes using str.encode() Must also provide encoding and optionally errors
Integer	Creates an array of provided size, all initialized to null
Object	A read-only buffer of the object will be used to initialize the byte array
Iterable	Creates an array of size equal to the iterable count and initialized to the iterable elements Must be iterable of integers between 0 <= x < 256
No source (arguments)	Creates an array of size 0

3. bytes() Return Value

The bytes() method returns a bytes object of the given size and initialization values.

4. Example 1: Convert string to bytes

string = "Python is interesting."

# string with encoding 'utf-8'
arr = bytes(string, 'utf-8')
print(arr)

Output

b'Python is interesting.'

5. Example 2: Create a byte of given integer size

size = 5

arr = bytes(size)
print(arr)

Output

b'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00'

6. Example 3: Convert iterable list to bytes

rList = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

arr = bytes(rList)
print(arr)

Output

b'\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05'