python - What is the encoding of the body of Gmail message? How to decode it? -

i using python api gmail. querying messages , retrieving them correctly, body of messages looks total nonsense, when mime type it's said text/plain or text/html.

i have been searching on api docs, keep saying it's string, when must encoding... thought base64 encoding, trying decode python base64 gives me typeerror: incorrect padding, either it's not base64 or i'm decoding badly.

i'd love provide example, since i'm handling sensitive information i'll have obfuscate bit...

{  "payload": {   "mimetype": "multipart/mixed",   "filename": "",   "headers": [    ...   ],   "body": {    "size": 0   },   "parts": [    {     "mimetype": "multipart/alternative",     "filename": "",     "headers": [      {       "name": "content-type",       "value": "multipart/alternative; boundary=001a1140b160adc309053bd7ec57"      }     ],     "body": {     "size": 0     },     "parts": [      {       "partid": "0.0",       "mimetype": "text/plain",       "filename": "",       "headers": [        {         "name": "content-type",         "value": "text/plain; charset=utf-8"        },        {         "name": "content-transfer-encoding",         "value": "quoted-printable"        }       ],       "body": {            "size": 4067,            "data": "ls0tls0tls0tlsbgb3j3yxjkzwqgbwvzc2fnzsatls0tls0tls0tdqpgcm9toibmaw5rzwrjbia8am9ilwfwchnabglua2vkaw4uy29tpg0krgf0ztogu2f0lcbtzxagmywgmjaxnibhdca5ojmwiefndqptdwjqzwn0oibbchbsawnhdglvbibmb3igu2vuaw9yiejhy2tlbmqgrgv2zwxvcg..."       } 

the field i'm talking payload.parts[0].parts[0].body.data. have truncated @ random point, doubt decodable that, point... encoding?

also, wouldn't hurt know in docs explicitly base64 (unless it's standard encoding mime?).

update: in end there bad luck involved. have 5 mails this, , turns out first 1 malformed, unknown reason. after moving on other ones, able decode of them suggested approaches in answers. thank all!

this base64.

your truncated message is:

---------- forwarded message ---------- from: linkedin <job-apps@linkedin.com> date: sat, sep 3, 2016 @ 9:30 subject: application senior backend develop 

here's sample code:

i had remove last 3 characters truncated message because getting same padding error you. have garbage message you're trying decode.

import base64  body = "ls0tls0tls0tlsbgb3j3yxjkzwqgbwvzc2fnzsatls0tls0tls0tdqpgcm9toibmaw5rzwrjbia8am9ilwfwchnabglua2vkaw4uy29tpg0krgf0ztogu2f0lcbtzxagmywgmjaxnibhdca5ojmwiefndqptdwjqzwn0oibbchbsawnhdglvbibmb3igu2vuaw9yiejhy2tlbmqgrgv2zwxv"  result = base64.b64decode(body)  print(result) 

update

here's snippet gettting , decoding message body. decoding part taken gmail api documentation:

  message = service.users().messages().get(userid='me', id=msg_id, format='full').execute()   msg_str = base64.urlsafe_b64decode(message['payload']['body']['data'].encode('utf8'))   mime_msg = email.message_from_string(msg_str)     print(msg_str) 

reference doc: https://developers.google.com/gmail/api/v1/reference/users/messages/get#python