all Python 3until 3.9Removed from the standard libraryfunction

base64.decodestring()

removed

Old name of base64.decodebytes(): decodes MIME-style Base64 back to bytes. Removed in Python 3.9; use decodebytes() instead.

Syntax

base64.decodestring(data)  # до 3.9

The counterpart of encodestring(): takes Base64 split into lines and returns the original bytes. Since Python 3.1 it has the precise name decodebytes(); 3.9 removed the old one. How to rewrite: base64.decodestring(data) becomes base64.decodebytes(data). For Base64 without newlines base64.b64decode(data) works too. Both expect bytes; turn a str into bytes first with .encode('ascii').

Examples

# Python 3.9+
import base64
try:
    base64.decodestring(b'aGk=\n')
except AttributeError as e:
    print(type(e).__name__)  # → AttributeError

# Python 3.9+
import base64
print(base64.decodebytes(b'aGk=\n'))  # → b'hi'
print(base64.b64decode('aGk='.encode('ascii')))  # → b'hi'

import base64
print(base64.decodestring(b'aGk=\n'))  # → b'hi'

See also

Common errors

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