Strings

[Dan]

I've having trouble coming to grip with Python strings.

I need to send binary data over a socket.  I'm taking the data from a
database.  When I extract it, non-printable characters come out as a
backslash followed by a three numeric characters representing the
numeric value of the data.  I guess this is what you would call a raw
Python string.  I want to convert those four characters ( in C-think,
say "\\012" ) into a single character and put it in a new string.

There's probably a simple way to do it, but I haven't figured it out.
What I've done so far is to step through the string, character by
character.  Normal characters are appended onto a new string.  If I
come across a '\' character, I look for the next three numeric
characters.  But I don't know how to convert this code into a single
character and append it onto the new string.

I'm sure what I'm doing is long and convoluted.  Any suggestions would
be appreciated.

Dan