CryptStringToBinary function

The CryptStringToBinary function converts a formatted string into an array of bytes.

Syntax

BOOL WINAPI CryptStringToBinary(
  _In_    LPCTSTR pszString,
  _In_    DWORD   cchString,
  _In_    DWORD   dwFlags,
  _In_    BYTE    *pbBinary,
  _Inout_ DWORD   *pcbBinary,
  _Out_   DWORD   *pdwSkip,
  _Out_   DWORD   *pdwFlags
);

Parameters

pszString [in]

A pointer to a string that contains the formatted string to be converted.

cchString [in]

The number of characters of the formatted string to be converted, not including the terminating NULL character. If this parameter is zero, pszString is considered to be a null-terminated string.

dwFlags [in]

Indicates the format of the string to be converted. This can be one of the following values.

Value	Meaning
CRYPT_STRING_BASE64HEADER 0x00000000	Base64, with certificate beginning and ending headers.
CRYPT_STRING_BASE64 0x00000001	Base64, without headers.
CRYPT_STRING_BINARY 0x00000002	Pure binary copy.
CRYPT_STRING_BASE64REQUESTHEADER 0x00000003	Base64, with request beginning and ending headers.
CRYPT_STRING_HEX 0x00000004	Hexadecimal only format.
CRYPT_STRING_HEXASCII 0x00000005	Hexadecimal format with ASCII character display.
CRYPT_STRING_BASE64_ANY 0x00000006	Tries the following, in order: CRYPT_STRING_BASE64HEADER CRYPT_STRING_BASE64
CRYPT_STRING_ANY 0x00000007	Tries the following, in order: CRYPT_STRING_BASE64HEADER CRYPT_STRING_BASE64 CRYPT_STRING_BINARY
CRYPT_STRING_HEX_ANY 0x00000008	Tries the following, in order: CRYPT_STRING_HEXADDR CRYPT_STRING_HEXASCIIADDR CRYPT_STRING_HEX CRYPT_STRING_HEXRAW CRYPT_STRING_HEXASCII
CRYPT_STRING_BASE64X509CRLHEADER 0x00000009	Base64, with X.509 certificate revocation list (CRL) beginning and ending headers.
CRYPT_STRING_HEXADDR 0x0000000a	Hex, with address display.
CRYPT_STRING_HEXASCIIADDR 0x0000000b	Hex, with ASCII character and address display.
CRYPT_STRING_HEXRAW 0x0000000c	A raw hexadecimal string. Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP:  This value is not supported.
CRYPT_STRING_STRICT 0x20000000	Set this flag for Base64 data to specify that the end of the binary data contain only white space and at most three equals "=" signs. Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP:  This value is not supported.

 

pbBinary [in]

A pointer to a buffer that receives the returned sequence of bytes. If this parameter is NULL, the function calculates the length of the buffer needed and returns the size, in bytes, of required memory in the DWORD pointed to by pcbBinary.

pcbBinary [in, out]

A pointer to a DWORD variable that, on entry, contains the size, in bytes, of the pbBinary buffer. After the function returns, this variable contains the number of bytes copied to the buffer. If this value is not large enough to contain all of the data, the function fails and GetLastError returns ERROR_MORE_DATA.

If pbBinary is NULL, the DWORD pointed to by pcbBinary is ignored.

pdwSkip [out]

A pointer to a DWORD value that receives the number of characters skipped to reach the beginning of the actual base64 or hexadecimal strings. This parameter is optional and can be NULL if it is not needed.

pdwFlags [out]

A pointer to a DWORD value that receives the flags actually used in the conversion. These are the same flags used for the dwFlags parameter. In many cases, these will be the same flags that were passed in the dwFlags parameter. If dwFlags contains one of the following flags, this value will receive a flag that indicates the actual format of the string. This parameter is optional and can be NULL if it is not needed.

Value	Meaning
CRYPT_STRING_ANY	This variable will receive one of the following values. Each value indicates the actual format of the string. CRYPT_STRING_BASE64HEADER CRYPT_STRING_BASE64 CRYPT_STRING_BINARY
CRYPT_STRING_BASE64_ANY	This variable will receive one of the following values. Each value indicates the actual format of the string. CRYPT_STRING_BASE64HEADER CRYPT_STRING_BASE64
CRYPT_STRING_HEX_ANY	This variable will receive one of the following values. Each value indicates the actual format of the string. CRYPT_STRING_HEXADDR CRYPT_STRING_HEXASCIIADDR CRYPT_STRING_HEX CRYPT_STRING_HEXRAW CRYPT_STRING_HEXASCII

 

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero (TRUE).

If the function fails, the return value is zero (FALSE).

Requirements

See also

CryptBinaryToString