stringToDecode = "L|k€y+*^*zo‚*€kvsno|*k€om*vo*zk}}*cyvksr" for i in range(127): list_comp = [chr((ord(c)+i)%256) for c in stringToDecode] joined_list = ''.join(list_comp) new_val = repr(joined_list) # you shouldn't need this print('%i: %s' % (i, new_val))