Microsoft Developer Network
 BitConverter Class
.NET Framework Class Library
BitConverter Class

Converts base data types to an array of bytes, and an array of bytes to base data types.

Namespace:  System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public NotInheritable Class BitConverter
Visual Basic (Usage)
You do not need to declare an instance of a static class in order to access its members.
C#
public static class BitConverter
Visual C++
public ref class BitConverter abstract sealed
JScript
public final class BitConverter

This class facilitates manipulating value types in their fundamental form. A byte is defined as an 8-bit unsigned integer.

The following code example illustrates the use of several BitConverter class methods.

Visual Basic
' Example of BitConverter class methods.
Module BitConverterDemo

    Sub Main( )

        Const formatter As String = "{0,25}{1,30}"

        Dim aDoubl      As Double   = 0.1111111111111111111
        Dim aSingl      As Single   = 0.1111111111111111111
        Dim aLong       As Long     = 1111111111111111111
        Dim anInt       As Integer  = 1111111111
        Dim aShort      As Short    = 11111
        Dim aChar       As Char     = "*"c
        Dim aBool       As Boolean  = True

        Console.WriteLine( _
            "This example of methods of the BitConverter class" & _
            vbCrLf & "generates the following output." & vbCrLf )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, "argument", "Byte array" )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, "--------", "----------" )

        ' Convert values to Byte arrays and display them.
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aDoubl, _
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aDoubl ) ) )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aSingl, _
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aSingl ) ) )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aLong, _
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aLong ) ) )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, anInt, _
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( anInt ) ) )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aShort, _
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aShort ) ) )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aChar, _
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aChar ) ) )
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aBool, _
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aBool ) ) )
    End Sub
End Module

' This example of methods of the BitConverter class
' generates the following output.
' 
'                  argument                    Byte array
'                  --------                    ----------
'         0.111111111111111       1C-C7-71-1C-C7-71-BC-3F
'                 0.1111111                   39-8E-E3-3D
'       1111111111111111111       C7-71-C4-2B-AB-75-6B-0F
'                1111111111                   C7-35-3A-42
'                     11111                         67-2B
'                         *                         2A-00
'                      True                            01
C#
// Example of BitConverter class methods.
using System;

class BitConverterDemo
{
    public static void Main( )
    {
        const string formatter = "{0,25}{1,30}";

        double  aDoubl  = 0.1111111111111111111;
        float   aSingl  = 0.1111111111111111111F;
        long    aLong   = 1111111111111111111;
        int     anInt   = 1111111111;
        short   aShort  = 11111;
        char    aChar   = '*';
        bool    aBool   = true;

        Console.WriteLine( 
            "This example of methods of the BitConverter class" +
            "\ngenerates the following output.\n" );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, "argument", "byte array" );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, "--------", "----------" );

        // Convert values to Byte arrays and display them.
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aDoubl, 
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aDoubl ) ) );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aSingl, 
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aSingl ) ) );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aLong, 
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aLong ) ) );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, anInt, 
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( anInt ) ) );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aShort, 
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aShort ) ) );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aChar, 
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aChar ) ) );
        Console.WriteLine( formatter, aBool, 
            BitConverter.ToString( BitConverter.GetBytes( aBool ) ) );
    }
}

/*
This example of methods of the BitConverter class
generates the following output.

                 argument                    byte array
                 --------                    ----------
        0.111111111111111       1C-C7-71-1C-C7-71-BC-3F
                0.1111111                   39-8E-E3-3D
      1111111111111111111       C7-71-C4-2B-AB-75-6B-0F
               1111111111                   C7-35-3A-42
                    11111                         67-2B
                        *                         2A-00
                     True                            01
*/
Visual C++
// Example of BitConverter class methods.
using namespace System;
int main()
{
   String^ formatter = "{0,25}{1,30}";
   double aDoubl = 0.1111111111111111111;
   float aSingl = 0.1111111111111111111F;
   __int64 aLong = 1111111111111111111;
   int anInt = 1111111111;
   short aShort = 11111;
   __wchar_t aChar = L'*';
   bool aBool = true;
   Console::WriteLine( "This example of methods of the BitConverter class"
   "\ngenerates the following output.\n" );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, "argument", "byte array" );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, "--------", "----------" );

   // Convert values to Byte arrays and display them.
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, aDoubl, BitConverter::ToString( BitConverter::GetBytes( aDoubl ) ) );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, aSingl, BitConverter::ToString( BitConverter::GetBytes( aSingl ) ) );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, aLong, BitConverter::ToString( BitConverter::GetBytes( aLong ) ) );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, anInt, BitConverter::ToString( BitConverter::GetBytes( anInt ) ) );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, aShort, BitConverter::ToString( BitConverter::GetBytes( aShort ) ) );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, aChar, BitConverter::ToString( BitConverter::GetBytes( aChar ) ) );
   Console::WriteLine( formatter, aBool, BitConverter::ToString( BitConverter::GetBytes( aBool ) ) );
}

/*
This example of methods of the BitConverter class
generates the following output.

                 argument                    byte array
                 --------                    ----------
        0.111111111111111       1C-C7-71-1C-C7-71-BC-3F
                0.1111111                   39-8E-E3-3D
      1111111111111111111       C7-71-C4-2B-AB-75-6B-0F
               1111111111                   C7-35-3A-42
                    11111                         67-2B
                        *                         2A-00
                     True                            01
*/
System..::.Object
  System..::.BitConverter
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
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this is good but where is the reverse method ?      figuerres   |   Edit   |   Show History

say I want to send data to another app and have it use that data...

so I have an array of bytes formated by bitconverter to "01-FF-01-FF"

now the reciving app needs to get that back into an array of 4 bytes.

seems like BitCOnverter should have an OP for StringToBytes( string input) that returns an array of bytes.

then we have a round trip conversion.

It does have the reverse operation.      Matthew Watson   |   Edit   |   Show History
The reverse operation is provided by the BitConverter.ToXXXX() methods, which convert an array of bytes to an XXXX.
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For working with big endian (network) byte order systems      pat.kujawa   |   Edit   |   Show History
As it seems that BitConverter can't be set to work for working with big-endian devices (as is common in embedded systems), I wrote my own simple class to make it.

http://snipplr.com/view/15179/adapt-systembitconverter-to-handle-big-endian-network-byte-ordering-in-order-to-create-number-types-from-bytes-and-viceversa/

The System.BitConverter class allows you to convert between bytes (in an array) and numerical types (int, uint, etc). However, it doesn't seem to let you set the endianness (which byte is most significant, e.g. in an int/Int32, there are four bytes, so which way do you read them?). It seems to operate such that the methods always return values appropriate to little endian (host order) systems (most significant byte is on the right). Since, in embedded systems, it is often necessary to interact with big-endian systems, I created this class to provide the functionality for either endianness. You simply set the endianness in the class, then all methods will return endian-aware values.


Please let me know if there is a better solution out there, as I searched a lot before deciding to do it this way.


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Network byte order problem      Victor K   |   Edit   |   Show History
The solution to the network byte order problem is to first use BitConverter to convert the byte array to a short/int/long, then use IPAddress.NetworkToHostOrder() to convert that same short/int/long.

Cheers,
Victor
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