Best way to convert file containing ASCII representations of bytes to real bytes C# .NET

Question

I have a file containing some data (for example, "00927E2B112DB958......"). This data is a representation of bytes in ASCII form. The bytes are 8 bit, so 2 ASCII chars map to each byte that needs to go into the final output buffer array.

What is the best way to do this?

EDIT: What I am trying to do is go from a string that looks like "00DFFF" to a byte array of {0x00, 0xDF, 0xFF}, for example. I guess this wasn't clear.

Thanks!

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/321370/convert-hex-string-to-byte-array — Chris Sinclair, Jun 18 '12 at 02:22
it's an ASCII representation of Hex that must be converted to real bytes in an array. — chris12892, Jun 18 '12 at 02:22
Please either define in what way conversions should be "best" (pretty code, the shortes code, least memory, fastest,...) or remove "best" from the title (and avoid in the future). — Alexei Levenkov, Jun 18 '12 at 02:46

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 18 '12 at 02:21

5

private ICollection<byte> HexString2Ascii(string hexString)
{
    var bytes = new List<byte>(hexString.Length / 2);
    for (int i = 0; i <= hexString.Length - 2; i += 2)
        bytes.Add(byte.Parse(hexString.Substring(i, 2), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber));
    return bytes;
}

answered Jun 18 '12 at 02:21

Tim S.

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Thanks, but what I am trying to do is go from an ASCII input to a byte array output. – chris12892 Jun 18 '12 at 02:23
1

Oh ok, that should be a simple modification. – Tim S. Jun 18 '12 at 02:24
1

I've made the modification. If you always want an array, make it `return bytes.ToArray();` and change the return type of the method. – Tim S. Jun 18 '12 at 02:28

Best way to convert file containing ASCII representations of bytes to real bytes C# .NET

1 Answers1