C# String to Byte[]

In C#, a string is an immutable sequence of characters while a byte array is a sequence of bytes. Sometimes, we may need to convert a string to a byte array to, for example, send data over a network, encrypt or decrypt data, or store text as binary data. In this tutorial, we will explore different ways of converting a string to a byte array in C#.

Table of Contents

• Converting a String to a Byte Array using Encoding
• Converting a String to a Byte Array using ASCIIEncoding
• Converting a String to a Byte Array using UTF8Encoding
• Converting a String to a Byte Array using GetBytes and ToCharArray
• Conclusion

Converting a String to a Byte Array using Encoding

The System.Text.Encoding namespace provides classes that can be used to convert strings to byte arrays and vice versa. This is accomplished using the GetBytes method of the encoding class.

string message = "Hello World!";
byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(message);

In this example, the UTF8.GetBytes method is used to convert the string to a byte array. The resulting byte array will be in the UTF8 encoding format. Other encoding formats, such as ASCII and Unicode, can also be used.

Converting a String to a Byte Array using ASCIIEncoding

The System.Text.ASCIIEncoding class can also be used to convert a string to a byte array. This class provides encoding for the ASCII character set.

string message = "Hello World!";
byte[] bytes = new System.Text.ASCIIEncoding().GetBytes(message);

In this example, the ASCIIEncoding.GetBytes method is used to convert the string to a byte array. The resulting byte array will be in the ASCII encoding format.

Converting a String to a Byte Array using UTF8Encoding

The System.Text.UTF8Encoding class can also be used to convert a string to a byte array. This class provides encoding for the UTF8 character set.

string message = "Hello World!";
byte[] bytes = new System.Text.UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(message);

In this example, the UTF8Encoding.GetBytes method is used to convert the string to a byte array. The resulting byte array will be in the UTF8 encoding format.

Converting a String to a Byte Array using GetBytes and ToCharArray

Another way to convert a string to a byte array in C# is to use the GetBytes method of the Encoding.ASCII class together with the ToCharArray method of the String class.

string message = "Hello World!";
char[] charArray = message.ToCharArray();
byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(charArray);

In this example, the ToCharArray method of the String class is used to create a character array from the string. The resulting character array is then passed to the Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes method to obtain the byte array.

Conclusion

We have learned different ways of converting a string to a byte array in C#. The most commonly used method is to use the GetBytes method of the encoding class. However, depending on the encoding format required, different encoding classes can be used.