Convert STDOUT hex output to string in Python

Question

I've looked for ways to convert the following type of hex output to string characters in Python. The output comes from STDOUT earlier in my code and I want to be able to process it further.

Let me give you some examples of the string I want converted:

\x5f\x63\x6c\x6f\x73\x65\x28

I want this type of string to be stripped of '\x' and I am only interested in the two hex characters that follow. Preferably, I would like to convert strings like this into;

5f 63 6c 6f 73 65 28

The original input is interpreted as a string, but I am not able to simply strip the \x in Python itself. It would be great if I can solve this conversion internally within Python?

Answer 1

>>> '\x12\x34\x56\x78'.encode('hex')
'12345678'