Converting a hex string to a number

[me]

Yigal Duppen <yduppen at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>>  I am trying to convert a hex string (for example: "0x12345678") to a
>> number (0x12345678 or just 12345678).

YD# You can use int(), with 16 as the value for the second argument (radix) 
>>>> int("0x1A2B", 16)
YD# 6699

YD# Of course, if the number is very large, this won't work. In this case, 
YD# use long

>>>> int("0x123456789ABCDEF", 16)
YD# Traceback (most recent call last):
YD#   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
YD# ValueError: int() literal too large: 0x123456789ABCDEF
>>>> long("0x123456789ABCDEF", 16)
YD# 81985529216486895L

YD# YDD
YD# -- 
YD# .sigmentation Fault

Like this solution.  Is there a way to use that long as hex, so bit
operations can be done on it piecewise?  Slice a byte, then xor it or
and it, and put it back?

thanks,

stan