Marshal Obj is String or Binary?

[Steve Holden]

Mike wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The example below shows that result of a marshaled data structure is
> nothing but a string
> 
> 
>>>>data = {2:'two', 3:'three'}
>>>>import marshal
>>>>bytes = marshal.dumps(data)
>>>>type(bytes)
> 
> <type 'str'>
> 
>>>>bytes
> 
> '{i\x02\x00\x00\x00t\x03\x00\x00\x00twoi\x03\x00\x00\x00t\x05\x00\x00\x00three0'
> 
> Now, I need to store this data safely in my database as CLEAR TEXT, not
> BLOB. It seems to me that it should work just fine since it is string
> anyways. So, why does O'reilly's Python Cookbook is insisting in saving
> it as a binary file and BLOB type?
> 
Well, the Cookbook isn't an exhaustive list of everything you can do 
with Python, it's just a record of some of the things people *have* done.

I presume your database has no datatype that will store binary data of 
indeterminate length? Clearly that would be the most satisfactory solution.

regards
  Steve
-- 
Steve Holden       +44 150 684 7255  +1 800 494 3119
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