Encoding::GetPreamble Method

When overridden in a derived class, returns a sequence of bytes that specifies the encoding used.

Namespace:  System.Text
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

No code example is currently available or this language may not be supported.

Return Value

Type: array<System::Byte>
A byte array containing a sequence of bytes that specifies the encoding used.
-or-
A byte array of length zero, if a preamble is not required.

Optionally, the Encoding object provides a preamble that is an array of bytes that can be prefixed to the sequence of bytes resulting from the encoding process. If the preamble contains a byte order mark (in Unicode, code point U+FEFF), it helps the decoder determine the byte order and the transformation format or UTF.

The Unicode byte order mark (BOM) is serialized as follows (in hexadecimal):

  • UTF-8: EF BB BF

  • UTF-16 big-endian byte order: FE FF

  • UTF-16 little-endian byte order: FF FE

Caution noteCaution:

To ensure that the encoded bytes are decoded properly, your application should prefix encoded bytes with a preamble. However, most encodings do not provide a preamble. To ensure that the encoded bytes are decoded properly, the application should use the UTF8Encoding or UnicodeEncoding Unicode encodings with a preamble.

The following code example determines the byte order of the encoding based on the preamble.

No code example is currently available or this language may not be supported.

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

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