{"id":5371,"date":"2020-04-28T19:06:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T19:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/?p=5371"},"modified":"2023-02-16T19:57:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T19:57:06","slug":"python-ascii-function","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/built-in-methods\/python-ascii-function","title":{"rendered":"How to use the Python ascii() function"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this article, we’ll take a look at the Python ascii()<\/strong> function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ascii() function returns a string representation of the object but only having ASCII characters as it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remaining non-ASCII characters will be escaped with a backslash (\\). For example, the newline character (\\n<\/code>) is a non-ASCII character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll now look at some examples to understand how it exactly works!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Using the Python ascii() function – Some examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Python ascii()<\/strong> function takes a single argument, which can be any object. So all kinds of objects, like lists, strings, etc, are valid. This will return a string.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re using it on a List<\/a>, or any collection, this function will get called for each member of the collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s take a look at this now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Using Python ascii() on primitive datatypes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For basic datatypes like boolean<\/code>, string<\/code>, int<\/code>, they work as you expect.<\/p>\n\n\n

\ni = 15\nprint(ascii(i))\n\nb = True\nprint(ascii(b))\n\ns = 'abc'\nprint(ascii(s))\n\ns = 'Hello from\\tAskPython\\n'\nprint(ascii(s))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n'15'\n'True'\n"'abc'"\n"'Hello from\\\\tAskPython\\\\n'"\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
As you can see, for the non-ASCII characters (\\t, \\n), the backslash itself needs to be escaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using ascii() on Iterables\/Collections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In case you want to use it on a list\/tuple\/dictionary, you still can! But, this will simply apply it to every member in the collection\/iterable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if a list has n<\/code> elements, we’ll get the function applied to all n<\/code> of them, and get back a list of strings.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nm = ["Hello from AskPython 22", "AskPyth\u00f6n", "Hi"]\nprint(ascii(m))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n['Hello from AskPython 22', 'AskPyth\\xf6n', 'Hi']\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Similarly, with a Dictionary {key<\/code>:value<\/code>}, it’ll be applied to both key<\/code> and value<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nd = {'\u00e2':'\u00e5', '2':2, '\u00e7':'\u0107'}\nprint(ascii(d))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n{'\\xe2': '\\xe5', '2': 2, '\\xe7': '\\u0107'}\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
For a tuple, it is similar to that of a list. All elements will be converted to a string representation of ASCII-like characters.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nt = ("Hell\u00f6", 123, ["AskPython"])\nprint(ascii(t))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n('Hell\\xf6', 123, ['AskPython'])\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Comparison with the repr() function<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The repr()<\/code> function is also used to return a string representation of objects. But the difference is that repr()<\/code> prints the non-ascii characters as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For custom objects, the ascii()<\/code> function internally calls the __repr__()<\/code> function, but makes sure to escape non-ASCII characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s experiment with this, by creating our own object, using a class.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nclass MyClass:\n    def __init__(self, name):\n        self.name = name\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Now, let’s create an object and try to invoke ascii()<\/code> and repr()<\/code> on it,<\/p>\n\n\n
\nmy_obj = MyClass("AskPyth\u00f6n")\nprint(ascii(my_obj))\nprint(repr(my_obj))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n'<__main__.MyClass object at 0x7f6adcf30940>'\n'<__main__.MyClass object at 0x7f6adcf30940>'\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
We don’t have a repr()<\/code> function for this class, so the default object<\/code> definition is used. That’s why you see MyClass object<\/code> in the output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To change this, we must overload the __repr__()<\/code> dunder method ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nclass MyClass:\n    def __init__(self, name):\n        self.name = name\n    def __repr__(self):\n        return self.name\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Now, when you invoke ascii()<\/code> or repr()<\/code>, we can directly get the name attribute!<\/p>\n\n\n
\nmy_obj = MyClass("AskPyth\u00f6n")\nprint(ascii(my_obj))\nprint(repr(my_obj))\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nAskPyth\\xf6n\nAskPyth\u00f6n\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Now, you can clearly see the difference!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In this article, we learned about using the ascii()<\/code> function in Python and learned to use it on different types of objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n