Sending chars from string to byte array C#

Question

Which encoding should I use to write bbb to a file as exact bytes, so if the file were opened in a hex editor, its contents would be "99 59"?

The following methods created incorrect results, as listed:

Byte[] bbb = { 0x99, 0x59 };
string o = System.Text.Encoding.UTF32.GetString(bbb);

UTF32 (above) writes 'EF BF BD', UTF7 writes 'C2 99 59', UTF8 writes 'EF BF BD 59', Unicode writes 'E5 A6 99', ASCII writes '3F 59'

What encoding will produce the un-changed 8-bit bytes?

Don't use any encoding. Just write the bytes directly to the file if you don't want them to be changed. — shf301
– shf301, Commented Dec 22, 2013 at 13:26
Thank you for the answers, in order to follow your 'hard life advice', I had to re-write a few major functions, but the new method is so much cleaner and less messy with work arounds. — user3127017
– user3127017, Commented Dec 23, 2013 at 14:22

Lasse V. Karlsen · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-22 13:55:02Z

2

If you want bytes to be written unencoded to a file/stream, simply write them to the file/stream.

File.WriteAllBytes(@"d:\temp\test.bin", bbb);

or

stream.Write(bbb, 0, bbb.Length);

Don't encode them at all.

answered Dec 22, 2013 at 13:55

Lasse V. Karlsen

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1 Comment

Thanks Lasse, I also used your suggestion and have made some cleaner functions which deal with bytes directly. feedBytes(byteToAddTo, byteArray);