Python’s base64 Module

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Now, let’s be real here: if you’ve ever had to deal with sending data over email or messaging apps, you know how annoying it can be when your message gets all garbled and unreadable because of those ***** special characters. Thats where base64 comes in!

Base64 is a way to encode binary data (like images) into text that can be easily transmitted over email or messaging apps without any weird symbols getting in the way. It’s like having your own secret code language for sending files, but with less espionage and more Python!

So how does it work? Well, lets say you have an image file called “kitten.jpg” that you want to send over email or messaging apps. Instead of attaching the entire file (which can be huge), you encode it using base64 and then attach the encoded text instead!

Here’s how you do it:

# Import the base64 module to encode the image file
import base64

# Open the image file in read binary mode and assign it to the variable 'f'
with open('kitten.jpg', 'rb') as f:
    # Read the contents of the image file and assign it to the variable 'img_data'
    img_data = f.read()

# Encode the image data using base64 and assign it to the variable 'encoded_img'
encoded_img = base64.b64encode(img_data)

# Print the encoded image data
print(encoded_img)

And that’s it! You now have a string of encoded text that you can attach to your email or messaging app without any weird symbols getting in the way.

But wait, theres more! Base64 also has a decoding function so you can decode the data back into its original form:

# Import the base64 module
import base64

# Create a variable to store the encoded image data
encoded_img = b'SGVsbG8gZnJhbWUgb2YgdGhlIGlzIGp1bXBpbmc='

# Use the base64 module's b64decode function to decode the image data
decoded_img = base64.b64decode(encoded_img)

# Use the 'with' statement to open a file in write binary mode and assign it to the variable 'f'
with open('kitten_decoded.jpg', 'wb') as f:
    # Use the 'write' function to write the decoded image data to the file
    f.write(decoded_img)

# The decoded image data is now saved as a new file named 'kitten_decoded.jpg'

You’ve successfully encoded and decoded an image using Pythons base64 module.

So next time you need to send a file over email or messaging apps, remember: use base64 for the win!

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