Python bytes() Function

Returns an array of the specified number of bytes, initialized to 0. If a string is passed instead of a number, the string is encoded as bytes with the encoding (required parameter when converting strings to bytes).

Syntax

Python

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bytes() 
bytes(iterable_of_ints)
bytes(string, encoding[, errors])
bytes(bytes_or_buffer)
bytes(size)

If no parameters are passed, an empty bytes object is returned.

Parameters

Parameter	Description
`iterable_of_ints`	Optional. An iterable object containing integers used to populate the bytes object
`string`	Optional. A string used to populate the bytes object. If supplied then encoding must also be supplied.
`encoding`	Optional. The encoding of the string. Required if source is a string. Typical values are ‘ascii’, ‘utf-8’, or ‘windows-1252’. See the codecs module for more.
`error`	Optional. The manner in which to handle errors. See the codecs module for more information. All encoders implement, at the least, 'strict' : Raise an error if there is an encoding issue. This is the default. 'ignore': Ignore malformed data and continue without further notice.
`bytes_or_buffer`	Optional. A buffer containing bytes used to populate bytes object.
`size`	Optional. The size of the bytes object to create. The bytes object will be initialised with 0's.

Example

Python

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myBytes = bytes(4)
print(f'length of myBytes = {len(myBytes)}')
print(myBytes)

myBytes = bytes("Sally", "utf-16")
print(f'"Sally" encoded as encoded as utf-16 bytes: {myBytes}')

Output

length of myBytes = 4
b'\x00\x00\x00\x00'
"Sally" encoded as encoded as utf-16 bytes: b'\xff\xfeS\x00a\x00l\x00l\x00y\x00'