Converting type "string" to type "byte()"

Question

Hi.

 

How do I convert a string to an 8-bit byte array?

 

Thanks,

Fredrik.

Answer 1

Call the GetBytes method for the encoding you wish to use. 

 

For example:

 

Code Snippet

Dim s As String = "Hello"

Dim bytes As Byte()

 

bytes = Encoding.Default.GetBytes(s)  'Gets the bytes using the default encoding

 

'or

 

bytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(s)   'Gets the bytes using ASCII encoding

 

 

Hope this helps

 

Chris

Answer 2

Public Class Form1

 

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        Dim s As String = "abcdef"

        Dim b(s.Length - 1) As Byte

        For x As Integer = 1 To s.Length

            b(x - 1) = CType(Asc(Mid(s, x, 1)), Byte)

        Next

        ' write the byte array to a file to look at

        System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes("c:\look3.fil", b)

 

    End Sub

End Class

 

Answer 3

Chris found a better way.

You may need the prefix for his code

bytes = System.Text.Encoding.Default.GetBytes(s)

Answer 4

You might want characters rather than bytes if you don't know or care about the encoding:

Code Snippet

Dim S As String = "abcdefg"

Dim C As Char() = CType(S, Char())

 

Answer 5

See my blog post I just wrote about the various ways from string to a byte array.

1)Use ToCharArray function off of string instance.

2)Use System.Text.Encoding.GetBytes(string)

3)Use LINQ to automate the creation and typing of the sequence.