Converting hexadecimal to decimal gives unexpected result

I am working with "Learn Python the Hard Way".

On Page 82 there is a hexadecimal encoded string.

rawBytes = b'\xe6\x96\x87\xe8\xa8\x80'

When I try to convert only one hexadecimal value to decimal value

int(0xxe6)

I get the error

SyntaxError: invalid hexadecimal literal

Why is that?

1 Answer

Hexadecimal values are composed of numbers 0-9 and/or A to F. You are using the letter 'x' twice in a row which causes the error. The escape sequence in the byte literal '\x' has the same meaning as '0x'. So try int(0xe6) and you are golden.