xored = ['\x00', '\x00', '\x00', '\x18', 'C', '_', '\x05', 'E', 'V', 'T', 'F', 'U', 'R', 'B', '_', 'U', 'G', '_', 'V', '\x17', 'V', 'S', '@', '\x03', '[', 'C', '\x02', '\x07', 'C', 'Q', 'S', 'M', '\x02', 'P', 'M', '_', 'S', '\x12', 'V', '\x07', 'B', 'V', 'Q', '\x15', 'S', 'T', '\x11', '_', '\x05', 'A', 'P', '\x02', '\x17', 'R', 'Q', 'L', '\x04', 'P', 'E', 'W', 'P', 'L', '\x04', '\x07', '\x15', 'T', 'V', 'L', '\x1b'] s1 = "" s2 = "" # ['\x00', '\x00', '\x00'] at start of xored is the best hint you get a_list = [chr(ord(a) ^ ord(b)) for a,b in zip(s1, s2)] print(a_list) print("".join(a_list))