How do you decode Base64 data in Python?

Question

import base64
coded_string = '''Q5YACgA...'''
base64.b64decode(coded_string)

worked for me. At the risk of pasting an offensively-long result, I got:

>>> base64.b64decode(coded_string)
2: 'C\x96\x00\n\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x00\x1b\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x00-\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x00?\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x07M\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x07_\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x07p\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x07\x82\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x07\x94\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x07\xa6Cq\xf0\x7fC\x96\x07\xb8DJ\x81\xc7C\x96\x07\xcaD\xa5\x9dtC\x96\x07\xdcD\xb6\x97\x11C\x96\x07\xeeD\x8b\x8flC\x96\x07\xffD\x03\xd4\xaaC\x96\x08\x11B\x05&\xdcC\x96\x08#\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x085C\x0c\xc9\xb7C\x96\x08GCy\xc0\xebC\x96\x08YC\x81\xa4xC\x96\x08kC\x0f@\x9bC\x96\x08}\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x08\x8e\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x08\xa0\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x08\xb2\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x86\xf9\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x87\x0b\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x87\x1d\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x87/\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x87AA\x0b\xe7PC\x96\x87SCI\xf5gC\x96\x87eC\xd4J\xeaC\x96\x87wD\r\x17EC\x96\x87\x89D\x00F6C\x96\x87\x9bC\x9cg\xdeC\x96\x87\xadB\xd56\x0cC\x96\x87\xbf\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x87\xd1\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x87\xe3\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x96\x87\xf5\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x9cY}\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x9cY\x90\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x9cY\xa4\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x9cY\xb7\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x9cY\xcbC\x1f\xbd\xa3C\x9cY\xdeCCz{C\x9cY\xf1CD\x02\xa7C\x9cZ\x05C+\x9d\x97C\x9cZ\x18C\x03R\xe3C\x9cZ,\x00\x00\x00\x00C\x9cZ?
[stuff omitted as it exceeded SO's body length limits]
\xbb\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc5!7\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc5!\xb2\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x14x\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x14\xf6\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x15t\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x15\xf2\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x16pC5\x9f\xf9D\xc7\x16\xeeC[\xb5\xf5D\xc7\x17lCG\x1b;D\xc7\x17\xeaB\xe3\x0b\xa6D\xc7\x18h\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x18\xe6\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x19d\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\x19\xe2\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\xfe\xb4\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\xff3\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc7\xff\xb2\x00\x00\x00\x00D\xc8\x001\x00\x00\x00\x00'

What problem are you having, specifically?

Python 3 (and 2)

import base64
a = 'eW91ciB0ZXh0'
base64.b64decode(a)

Python 2

A quick way to decode it without importing anything:

'eW91ciB0ZXh0'.decode('base64')

or more descriptive

>>> a = 'eW91ciB0ZXh0'
>>> a.decode('base64')
'your text'

Base64 encode/decode example:

import base64

mystr = 'O João mordeu o cão!'

# Encode
mystr_encoded = base64.b64encode(mystr.encode('utf-8'))
# b'TyBKb8OjbyBtb3JkZXUgbyBjw6NvIQ=='

# Decode
mystr_encoded = base64.b64decode(mystr_encoded).decode('utf-8')
# 'O João mordeu o cão!'

I personally just use this Python code to decode Base64 strings:

print open("FILE-WITH-STRING", "rb").read().decode("base64")

So you can run it in a Bash script like this:

python -c 'print open("FILE-WITH-STRING", "rb").read().decode("base64")' > outputfile
file -i outputfile

twneale has also pointed out an even simpler solution: base64 -d

So you can use it like this:

cat "FILE WITH STRING" | base64 -d > OUTPUTFILE
#Or You Can Do This
echo "STRING" | base64 -d > OUTPUTFILE

That will save the decoded string to outputfile and then attempt to identify the file type using either the file tool or you can try TrID. The following command will decode the string into a file and then use TrID to automatically identify the file's type and add the extension.

echo "STRING" | base64 -d > OUTPUTFILE; trid -ce OUTPUTFILE