Question

Converting from hex to string

I need to check for a string located inside a packet that I receive as byte array. If I use BitConverter.ToString(), I get the bytes as string with dashes (f.e.: 00-50-25-40-A5-FF).
I tried most functions I found after a quick googling, but most of them have input parameter type string and if I call them with the string with dashes, It throws an exception.

I need a function that turns hex(as string or as byte) into the string that represents the hexadecimal value(f.e.: 0x31 = 1). If the input parameter is string, the function should recognize dashes(example "47-61-74-65-77-61-79-53-65-72-76-65-72"), because BitConverter doesn't convert correctly.

 45  211222  45
1 Jan 1970

Solution

 94

Like so?

static void Main()
{
    byte[] data = FromHex("47-61-74-65-77-61-79-53-65-72-76-65-72");
    string s = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data); // GatewayServer
}
public static byte[] FromHex(string hex)
{
    hex = hex.Replace("-", "");
    byte[] raw = new byte[hex.Length / 2];
    for (int i = 0; i < raw.Length; i++)
    {
        raw[i] = Convert.ToByte(hex.Substring(i * 2, 2), 16);
    }
    return raw;
}
2009-04-07

Solution

 17

For Unicode support:

public class HexadecimalEncoding
{
    public static string ToHexString(string str)
    {
        var sb = new StringBuilder();

        var bytes = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(str);
        foreach (var t in bytes)
        {
            sb.Append(t.ToString("X2"));
        }

        return sb.ToString(); // returns: "48656C6C6F20776F726C64" for "Hello world"
    }

    public static string FromHexString(string hexString)
    {
        var bytes = new byte[hexString.Length / 2];
        for (var i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++)
        {
            bytes[i] = Convert.ToByte(hexString.Substring(i * 2, 2), 16);
        }

        return Encoding.Unicode.GetString(bytes); // returns: "Hello world" for "48656C6C6F20776F726C64"
    }
}
2014-12-08