binconvtest.py from zach

binconvtest.py

import binascii

# To run doctests, do something like:
# python3 -m doctest binconvtest.py 

def ascii_to_bin(input_string):
	"""
	ascii_to_bin converts a string of ASCII characters into a binary string 

	>>> ascii_to_bin("A")
	b'41'
	>>> ascii_to_bin("Testing...")
	b'54657374696e672e2e2e'
	"""
	encoded = input_string.encode('ascii', 'strict')
	return binascii.hexlify(encoded)
	# return bin(int(binascii.hexlify(encoded), 16))

# This function, which converts a string of binary back into a string of
# ASCII characters, is the one I need help with:
def bin_to_ascii(input_binary):
	"""
	bin_to_ascii converts a hexadecimal data into an ASCII string

	>>> bin_to_ascii(b'41')
	b'A'
	>>> bin_to_ascii(b'54657374696e672e2e2e')
	b'Testing...'
	"""
	# If the length of the binary (or hexadecimal? I'm a little confused as to 
	# what I'm inputting...) string is an even number, which hasn't 
	# happened yet with any of my test runs, it should simply convert back to
	# ASCII:
	# if len(input_binary) % 2 == 0:
		# bin_int = int(input_binary, 2)
	return binascii.unhexlify(input_binary)
	# If not, I try to make the length an even number by adding a '0' to the
	# beggining of the string.  This is what has been giving me trouble:
	# else:
	# 	listog = []
	# 	listog.append('0')
	# 	listog.append(input_binary)
	# 	even_bin = ''.join(listog)
	# 	even_bin_int = int(even_bin, 2)
	# 	return binascii.unhexlify('{0}'.format(even_bin_str))