How To Remove 0X” From Hex In Python

When working with hexadecimal values in Python, you might encounter numbers with a 0x prefix. In some situations, you may want to remove this prefix for further processing or data representation. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to remove the 0x prefix from hex numbers in Python.

Step 1: Create a Hex Number

Before we start removing the 0x prefix, let’s create a hex number in Python. You can either represent a hex number as a string or use the hex() function to convert an integer value. Here’s how to create a hex number as a string using the hex() function:

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hex_number_string = "0x1a"
hex_number_function = hex(26)

Let’s print the two hex numbers:

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print("Hex as a string:", hex_number_string)
print("Hex using hex() function:", hex_number_function)
 
Hex as a string: 0x1a
Hex using hex() function: 0x1a

Both methods create a hex number that contains the 0x prefix.

Step 2: Remove the 0x Prefix

Now that we have our hex numbers, let’s remove the 0x prefix. You can do this using Python string slicing. Here’s an example to remove the 0x prefix from both variables we defined in step 1:

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hex_number_string_clean = hex_number_string[2:]
hex_number_function_clean = hex_number_function[2:]

We’re using string slicing to get a substring after the first two characters (0x) of the hex number string. Let’s print the cleaned hex numbers:

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print("Hex string without 0x:", hex_number_string_clean)
print("Hex using hex() function without 0x:", hex_number_function_clean)
 
Hex string without 0x: 1a
Hex using hex() function without 0x: 1a

The 0x prefix has been removed from both hex numbers.

Full Code:

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hex_number_string = "0x1a"
hex_number_function = hex(26)
 
print("Hex as a string:", hex_number_string)
print("Hex using hex() function:", hex_number_function)
 
hex_number_string_clean = hex_number_string[2:]
hex_number_function_clean = hex_number_function[2:]
 
print("Hex string without 0x:", hex_number_string_clean)
print("Hex using hex() function without 0x:", hex_number_function_clean)

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you’ve learned how to remove the 0x prefix from a hex number in Python using string slicing. This can be useful when processing or representing hexadecimal values in your program without the 0x prefix.