October 13, 2024

Converting String to Binary in Python

Converting a string to its binary representation involves encoding the string to bytes and then converting those bytes to a binary format. Here’s how you can perform this conversion in Python:

1. Using Python Built-in Functions

The process of converting a string to binary can be done in a few steps. First, encode the string into bytes, and then convert each byte to its binary representation.

1.1 Example: Basic Conversion

In this example:

  • s.encode() converts the string to a bytes object using the default encoding (UTF-8).
  • format(byte, '08b') converts each byte to an 8-bit binary string.
  • ''.join(...) combines the binary strings for each byte into a single binary representation.

2. Using `bin()` Function for Individual Characters

If you need to convert each character of the string to its binary representation individually, you can use the bin() function.

2.1 Example: Binary Conversion of Each Character

In this example:

  • ord(char) gets the Unicode code point of the character.
  • format(ord(char), '08b') converts the code point to an 8-bit binary string.
  • ' '.join(...) separates the binary strings of individual characters with spaces.

3. Summary

Converting a string to binary in Python involves encoding the string to bytes and then formatting those bytes as binary numbers. By using built-in functions such as encode(), format(), and ord(), you can achieve a straightforward conversion of strings to their binary representations.