Python v3.3 encode('hex')

encode, hex, python-3.x

Solution

No, using `encode()` to hexlify isn't nice.

The way you use the `hex` codec worked in Python 2 because you can call `encode()` on 8-bit strings in Python 2, ie you can encode something that is already encoded. That doesn't make sense. `encode()` is for encoding Unicode strings into 8-bit strings, not for encoding 8-bit strings as 8-bit strings.

In Python 3 you can't call `encode()` on 8-bit strings anymore, so the `hex` codec became pointless and was removed.

Although you theoretically could have a `hex` codec and use it like this:

>>> import codecs
>>> hexlify = codecs.getencoder('hex')
>>> hexlify(b'Blaah')[0]
b'426c616168'

Using binascii is easier and nicer:

>>> import binascii
>>> binascii.hexlify(b'Blaah')
b'426c616168'

Problem

Has HEX codec been excluded from Python 3.3? When I write the code ``` >>> s="Hallo" >>> s.encode('hex') Traceback (most recent call last): File "<pyshell#24>", line 1, in <module> s.encode('hex') LookupError: unknown encoding: hex ``` What does that mean? I know about `binascii.hexlify()` but still `.encode()` method is nice! Any suggestion?

Original source