py3-plus: .encode('utf-8') → .encode() & .decode('utf-8') → .decode()

In Python 3, the first positional argument to .encode() and .decode() defaults to 'utf-8'. This was not the case with Python 2:

https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#str.encode https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#bytes.decode

As this is the most common value passed, there could be a transform to simplify the calls to just .encode() or .decode() (without the first positional argument). This could help clean up and simplify modern Python code by removing noise.

[asottile]

it can, but like, who would write that

[asottile]

not yet, I want to finish up a PR first – you can try the latest from git however pip install git+https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade (or via pre-commit pre-commit try-repo https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade (to just try) or if you have it already configured pre-commit autoupdate --repo https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade --bleeding-edge)