The **`ascii()` function** in Python is used to return a string that is the printable representation of an object. The printable representation of a string contains:
* The #key# ASCII characters: characters with ASCII codes from 0-127 #key# of the string are returned as-is.
* The #key# non-ASCII characters: characters that cannot be represented by a 7-bit ASCII code #key# are replaced by the escape characters. The **escape** characters are the hexadecimal representation of the encoded codes of the non-ASCII characters.

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## Syntax
The `ascii()` function can be declared as shown in the code snippet below.
```python
ascii(obj)
```
* `obj`: The object whose printable representation is required.

## Return value
The `ascii()` function returns the printable representation of the object `obj`.

## `ascii()` versus `print()`
The **`print()` function** prints the string on the output stream as it is. On the other hand, the `ascii()` function escapes the non-ASCII characters.

## Example 1
Consider the code snippet below, which demonstrates the use of the `ascii()` function.


str1 = 'Hêllo wörld!'  
print('str1: ', str1) 
print('print(str1)', str1)
print('ascii(str1):', ascii(str1))  


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## Explanation
* We declare a string `str1` in *line 1*. 
* We use the `print()` function in *line 3* to print `str1`. The `print()` function simply prints `str1` as it is. 
* We use the `ascii()` function in *line 4* to get the printable representation of `str1`. The non-ASCII character `ê` is replaced by the escape sequence `\xea`, which is the hexadecimal representation of its encoded code. Similarly, the non-ASCII character `ö` is replaced by the escape sequence `\xf6`.


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## Example 2
Consider another example of the `ascii()` method, in which the code returns a printable representation of a list of strings.

lst1 = ['HËllo', 'åpple', 'çomputer']  
print('lst1: ', lst1) 
print('ascii(lst1):', ascii(lst1))


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## Explanation
We declare a list of strings `lst1` in *line 1*. We use the `ascii()` method in *line 3*, which returns the printable representation of all the members of the list.

What is the ascii() function in Python?

The ascii() function returns a string's printable representation, replacing non-ASCII characters with escape codes.

What is the ascii() function in Python?

Syntax

Return value

ascii() versus print()

Example 1

Explanation

Example 2

Explanation

`ascii()` versus `print()`