Using String of Bytes in a Byte Array

Question

In C# I am trying to use a string that is already in bytes to array of bytes, I can't use Linq since I am using 2.0 framework. I just want to use the string as a byte array, so converting it.

Would like to do:

string MYBytes ="{ 0x4D, 0x5A, 0x90 }";
byte[] getBytes = MYBytes;

So that should be converted to a byte array (containing 0x4D, 0x5A, 0x90)? — BradleyDotNET, Jun 12 '14 at 00:35
Strings are composed of Unicode characters, not bytes. [Ref](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string%28v=vs.80%29.aspx). — HABO, Jun 12 '14 at 01:02
Yes I know that it is Unicode but I would like to use the string as bytes, should I split the string and try to cover each to byte and make it to an array? — user3732111, Jun 12 '14 at 01:07

Mike Hixson · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-13T04:12:06.557

Basically, you want to split up the string and parse each item individually as a byte. Here is one way to do it:

Update

Looks like I pasted in the wrong fiddle link. Here is the code with he correct link.

using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {

        string MYBytes = "{ 0x4D, 0x5A, 0x90 }";

        string[] hexParts = MYBytes.Split(new char[] { ',', '{', '}' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

        byte[] bytes = new byte[hexParts.Length];

        for(int i = 0; i < hexParts.Length; i++)
            bytes[i] = Byte.Parse(hexParts[i].Substring(3), NumberStyles.HexNumber);


        foreach(byte b in bytes)
            Console.WriteLine("{0:X2}", b);
    }
}

https://dotnetfiddle.net/gRMEOM

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

0

Something like this should work => Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("4d5a90", 0, resultArray, 0)

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xsy6z64h(v=vs.110).aspx

See also How can I convert a hex string to a byte array?

Or use unsafe code

To get a byte

unsafe { fixed(char* s = someString) { byte b = s[0]; }}

To get a fixed amount of bytes

unsafe { fixed(char* s = someString) fixed(byte * bz = (byte*) s) fixed byte[3] b = bz; }

I think you can skip the fixing to byte * too

unsafe { fixed(char* s = someString) fixed byte[3] b = (byte *)s; }

edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

Community

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answered Jun 12 '14 at 01:11

Jay

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This is converting the text to bytes, I do not want to convert the actual value of the string to a byte I just want to use the sting's value as the byte value. – user3732111 Jun 12 '14 at 01:25
Well you have a fundamental problem... Try unsafe code... – Jay Jun 12 '14 at 01:26

Using String of Bytes in a Byte Array

2 Answers2