BinasciiError

Binascii.Error is an exception defined in Python's standard library module binascii. It signals an error encountered by functions that convert between binary data and ASCII representations, such as hexadecimal or base64 encodings. The exception is raised by binascii functions when the input data is invalid or the requested operation cannot be performed.

Typical causes include unhexlify receiving a string containing non-hexadecimal characters or an input string with an odd length; base64 decoding functions (such as a2b_base64) receiving data that is not valid base64; and other input validation failures inside binascii routines. The exact error message is provided as part of the exception’s string representation, for example "Non-hexadecimal digit found" or "Odd-length string."

Usage-wise, developers catch binascii.Error to handle conversion problems when parsing binary or ASCII data. Since this exception is raised specifically by the binascii module, it is distinct from more general errors like ValueError, allowing targeted exception handling in data processing pipelines or input validation code.

See also: Python’s binascii module, which contains functions for converting between binary and ASCII representations, and the related idea of handling data conversion errors with dedicated exceptions.