# How to encode/decode string using django.utils.http **URL:** \ **Category:** Forms & APIs\ **Created:** [June 27, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504 "2022-06-27T15:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![khaw235](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/khaw235/32/6372_2.png) [@khaw235](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/khaw235)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/1 "2022-06-27T15:58:57Z")
Hi there, I am trying to pass a user ID (primary key) to url as base 64 encoded. I am using `django.utils.http.urlsafe_base64_encode` to encode the user ID as the following: ```auto from django.utils.http import urlsafe_base64_encode user_id_base_64 = urlsafe_base64_encode(str(user.pk).encode('utf-8')) ``` This works fine and I get the desired 64 base byte of user id. The url pattern to hold this user id 64 base is: ```auto path("password-reset//, views.dashboard()) ``` But I need to decode the same in the view which is accessed by the above url. I try to do that with the following: ```auto from django.utils.http import urlsafe_base64_decode . . . user_id = urlsafe_base64_decode(uidb64) ``` This does not give me the correct result, i.e. a numeric string or an integer. Can someone help me how do I decode it properly to get the correct value? ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/2 "2022-06-27T16:08:31Z")
> [@khaw235](#): > > `path("password-reset//, views.dashboard())` Most obvious to me is the mistake here. Unless you’re doing something really unusual here, the definition would be: `path("password-reset//", views.dashboard)` Beyond that, it would be helpful if you showed an example of one of the keys, what that translates to for the url, and what you’re seeing in the view. ---
**Author:** ![khaw235](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/khaw235/32/6372_2.png) [@khaw235](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/khaw235)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:27pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/3 "2022-06-27T16:27:26Z")
Actually it was just a typo here in this post. In reality I have the same definition of path as you told in my code. Well, the I have the following output when I print `user.key`: ```auto >>> from .models import User >>> user = User.objects.get(pk=1) >>> print(user.pk) 1 ``` and when I get the following output of encoding: ```auto >>> from django.utils.http import urlsafe_base64_encode >>> user_id_base_64 = urlsafe_base64_encode(str(user.pk).encode('utf-8')) >>> print(user_id_base_64) MQ ``` Now when I try to decode, I get the following output: ```auto >>> from django.utils.http import urlsafe_base64_decode >>> user_key = urlsafe_base64_decode(user_id_base_64) >>> print(user_key) b'1' ``` So, you can see instead of getting back `1` either in form of `str` or `int`, I am getting `b'1'`. ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/4 "2022-06-27T16:31:20Z")
It’s decoding as a bytes object; you can then [decode it as a string](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html?highlight=bytes#bytes.decode). ---
**Author:** ![khaw235](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/khaw235/32/6372_2.png) [@khaw235](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/khaw235)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/5 "2022-06-27T16:35:11Z")
Doing the following: ```auto user_key = urlsafe_base64_decode(user_id_base_64.decode('str')) ``` gives me the following error: ```auto Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 6, in AttributeError: 'bytes' object has no attribute 'encode' ``` ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/6 "2022-06-27T16:44:23Z")
It’s the output of `urlsafe_base64_decode` that is returning the bytes object, what you are printing as `user_key` - _that_ is what you want to decode as a string. ---
**Author:** ![khaw235](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/khaw235/32/6372_2.png) [@khaw235](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/khaw235)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/7 "2022-06-27T16:56:10Z")
Upon doing the following ```auto user_key = urlsafe_base64_decode(user_key_base_64).decode('str') ``` I get the following error: ```auto Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 6, in LookupError: unknown encoding: str ``` ---
**Author:** ![khaw235](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/khaw235/32/6372_2.png) [@khaw235](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/khaw235)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 9:38am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/8 "2022-06-28T09:38:52Z")
@KenWhitesell any solution to this problem? ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 10:01am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/9 "2022-06-28T10:01:36Z")
What do you think that error message is telling you? ---
**Author:** ![khaw235](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/khaw235/32/6372_2.png) [@khaw235](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/khaw235)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 10:25am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/10 "2022-06-28T10:25:31Z")
Its saying that it does not recognize `str` encoding. So what should I do to make it recognize or what’s the alternative method? ---
**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 10:34am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/11 "2022-06-28T10:34:29Z")
Did you read the documentation I referenced? It shows what all the valid encodings are. ---
**Author:** ![khaw235](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/khaw235/32/6372_2.png) [@khaw235](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/khaw235)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 10:38am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-encode-decode-string-using-django-utils-http/14504/12 "2022-06-28T10:38:01Z")
OK, I got it, I changed `'str'` to `'ascii'` and I got the original string back, now just needed to convert it to integer using `int()` method. Thanks a lot.