jwt.encode generating bytes instead of a string

The documentation example seems to indicate the result of jwt.encode is a string. The actual result with Python 3.7.1 is bytes. If this is just a documentation issue i’m happy to submit a small PR.

Expected Result

>>> import jwt
>>> encoded = jwt.encode({'some': 'payload'}, 'secret', algorithm='HS256')
'eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb21lIjoicGF5bG9hZCJ9.4twFt5NiznN84AWoo1d7KO1T_yoc0Z6XOpOVswacPZg'

>>> jwt.decode(encoded, 'secret', algorithms=['HS256'])
{'some': 'payload'}

Actual Result

Python 3.7.1 (default, Dec 14 2018, 13:28:58)
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 7.0.1 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

In [1]: import jwt

In [2]: encoded = jwt.encode({'some': 'payload'}, 'secret', algorithm='HS256')

In [3]: encoded
Out[3]: b'eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzb21lIjoicGF5bG9hZCJ9.Joh1R2dYzkRvDkqv3sygm5YyK8Gi4ShZqbhK2gxcs2U'

System Information

{
  "cryptography": {
    "version": "2.4.2"
  },
  "implementation": {
    "name": "CPython",
    "version": "3.7.1"
  },
  "platform": {
    "release": "18.2.0",
    "system": "Darwin"
  },
  "pyjwt": {
    "version": "1.7.1"
  }
}

[Samarpitr]

Thanks @brandonmbanks .decode('utf-8') is working!

[paulocoutinhox]

I have the same problem -,-

I solved it with:

encoded_jwt.decode('UTF-8')

This is the correct way for pyjwt?