diff --git a/hbc b/hbc
index ea49f21..e5888e0 100755
--- a/hbc
+++ b/hbc
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ def createConnections(hosts):
 
 def doexec(conn, data):
 	try:
-		ro = subprocess.check_output(data, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=True)
+		ro = subprocess.check_output(data, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=True).decode()
 		fail = "OK"
 	except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
 		ro = str(e)