Suddenly stumbled upon the message “AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'” without even knowing why? We will shed light on this mystery within seconds. Check out our verdict!

How to Fix The Error: STR Object Has No Attribute Decode

Why Does The Error Occur?

String objects in Python 2 are associated with the attribute Decode(), mainly employed to convert an encoded string back into the original. However, starting from the Python 3 version, all strings are placed within Unicode objects, which is why it’s impossible to use the attribute Decode() directly on STR objects.

Hence, the message “AttributeError: ‘str’ object has no attribute ‘decode’” means your string objects are in a Unicode format already. Applying the method Decode () on an object that’s already been decoded is impossible.

In this example, we use the method Decode() on plain string objects that are already decoded:

text= "ItsYourCode"
print(text.decode())

Hence, upon execution in Python ver 3, we only receive an AttributeError.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:\Code\main.py", line 3, in <module>
    print(text.decode())
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'. Did you mean: 'encode'?

The Solution

The solution is simple – you only need to remove the method Decode() on those string objects.

Are you parsing or reading these data in API? Then in most cases, we would expect them to undergo UTF-8 encoding, which is why we try to apply the Decode() command on string objects in the first place.

But as we just said, one easiest approach is to drop that Decode() command from your string objects, calling it directly to tackle the issue. After all, it has already been in decoded format.

text= "ItsYourCode"
print(text.encode().decode())

Output:

ItsYourCode

Some people we know choose another solution, which is to apply the Encode() first, then decode the file again. Still, that’s quite time-consuming and not really recommended. Such approaches might also lead to some redundant CPU cycles for execution – another reason we do not think it’s a good idea.

Another Similar Example

Before wrapping up, let’s have a quick look at another very similar example to the one we already discussed above.

• The code:

import imaplib
from email.parser import HeaderParser
conn = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('imap.yahoo.com')
conn.login('[email protected]', 'pass')
conn.select()
conn.search(None, 'ALL')
data = conn.fetch('1', '(BODY[HEADER])')
header_data = data[1][0][1].decode('utf-8')

• The error:

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'

• Solution: Remove the decode(‘utf-8) part from the last line:

header_data = data[1][0][1]

And that’s it! You have successfully debunked the problem.

Conclusion

So you have learned all there is to know about tips to fix the error: “AttributeError: ‘str’ object has no attribute ‘decode'”. We also provide an in-depth explanation of its occurrence to help you sidestep it in the future. For other AttributeErrors in Python 3 (such as, “module ‘time’ has no attribute ‘clock”), turn to our website.