Encoding.GetBytes Method

Definition

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters into a sequence of bytes.

Overloads

GetBytes(Char[])

When overridden in a derived class, encodes all the characters in the specified character array into a sequence of bytes.

GetBytes(String)

When overridden in a derived class, encodes all the characters in the specified string into a sequence of bytes.

GetBytes(ReadOnlySpan<Char>, Span<Byte>)

When overridden in a derived class, encodes into a span of bytes a set of characters from the specified read-only span.

GetBytes(Char[], Int32, Int32)

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters from the specified character array into a sequence of bytes.

GetBytes(String, Int32, Int32)

When overridden in a derived class, encodes into an array of bytes the number of characters specified by count in the specified string, starting from the specified index.

GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32)

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters starting at the specified character pointer into a sequence of bytes that are stored starting at the specified byte pointer.

GetBytes(Char[], Int32, Int32, Byte[], Int32)

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters from the specified character array into the specified byte array.

GetBytes(String, Int32, Int32, Byte[], Int32)

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters from the specified string into the specified byte array.

GetBytes(Char[])

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

When overridden in a derived class, encodes all the characters in the specified character array into a sequence of bytes.

public virtual byte[] GetBytes (char[] chars);

Parameters

chars
Char[]

The character array containing the characters to encode.

Returns

Byte[]

A byte array containing the results of encoding the specified set of characters.

Exceptions

chars is null.

A fallback occurred (for more information, see Character Encoding in .NET)

-and-

EncoderFallback is set to EncoderExceptionFallback.

Examples

The following example determines the number of bytes required to encode a character array, encodes the characters, and displays the resulting bytes.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class SamplesEncoding  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // The characters to encode:
      //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      //    a high-surrogate value (U+D8FF)
      //    a low-surrogate value (U+DCFF)
      char[] myChars = new char[] { 'z', 'a', '\u0306', '\u01FD', '\u03B2', '\uD8FF', '\uDCFF' };

      // Get different encodings.
      Encoding  u7    = Encoding.UTF7;
      Encoding  u8    = Encoding.UTF8;
      Encoding  u16LE = Encoding.Unicode;
      Encoding  u16BE = Encoding.BigEndianUnicode;
      Encoding  u32   = Encoding.UTF32;

      // Encode the entire array, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, u32 );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( char[] chars, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( chars );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( chars.Length );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode the array of chars.
      byte[] bytes = enc.GetBytes( chars );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintHexBytes( byte[] bytes )  {

      if (( bytes == null ) || ( bytes.Length == 0 ))
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "<none>" );
        }
        else  {
         for ( int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++ )
            Console.Write( "{0:X2} ", bytes[i] );
         Console.WriteLine();
      }
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.

System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 18  23  :7A 61 2B 41 77 59 42 2F 51 4F 79 32 50 2F 63 2F 77 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 12  24  :7A 61 CC 86 C7 BD CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :7A 00 61 00 06 03 FD 01 B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :00 7A 00 61 03 06 01 FD 03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 24  32  :7A 00 00 00 61 00 00 00 06 03 00 00 FD 01 00 00 B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

*/

Remarks

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should call the string version of the GetBytes method.

  • The Unicode character buffer version of GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32) allows some fast techniques, particularly with multiple calls using the Encoder object or inserting into existing buffers. Bear in mind, however, that this method version is sometimes unsafe, since pointers are required.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

See also

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

GetBytes(String)

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

When overridden in a derived class, encodes all the characters in the specified string into a sequence of bytes.

public virtual byte[] GetBytes (string s);

Parameters

s
String

The string containing the characters to encode.

Returns

Byte[]

A byte array containing the results of encoding the specified set of characters.

Exceptions

A fallback occurred (for more information, see Character Encoding in .NET)

-and-

EncoderFallback is set to EncoderExceptionFallback.

Examples

The following example determines the number of bytes required to encode a string or a range in the string, encodes the characters, and displays the resulting bytes.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class SamplesEncoding  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // The characters to encode:
      //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      //    a high-surrogate value (U+D8FF)
      //    a low-surrogate value (U+DCFF)
      String myStr = "za\u0306\u01FD\u03B2\uD8FF\uDCFF";

      // Get different encodings.
      Encoding  u7    = Encoding.UTF7;
      Encoding  u8    = Encoding.UTF8;
      Encoding  u16LE = Encoding.Unicode;
      Encoding  u16BE = Encoding.BigEndianUnicode;
      Encoding  u32   = Encoding.UTF32;

      // Encode the entire string, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      Console.WriteLine( "Encoding the entire string:" );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u32 );

      Console.WriteLine();

      // Encode three characters starting at index 4, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      Console.WriteLine( "Encoding the characters from index 4 through 6:" );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u32 );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( String s, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( s );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( s.Length );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode the entire string.
      byte[] bytes = enc.GetBytes( s );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( String s, int index, int count, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( s.ToCharArray(), index, count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode a range of characters in the string.
      byte[] bytes = new byte[iBC];
      enc.GetBytes( s, index, count, bytes, bytes.GetLowerBound(0) );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintHexBytes( byte[] bytes )  {

      if (( bytes == null ) || ( bytes.Length == 0 ))
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "<none>" );
        }
        else  {
         for ( int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++ )
            Console.Write( "{0:X2} ", bytes[i] );
         Console.WriteLine();
      }
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.

Encoding the entire string:
System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 18  23  :7A 61 2B 41 77 59 42 2F 51 4F 79 32 50 2F 63 2F 77 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 12  24  :7A 61 CC 86 C7 BD CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :7A 00 61 00 06 03 FD 01 B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :00 7A 00 61 03 06 01 FD 03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 24  32  :7A 00 00 00 61 00 00 00 06 03 00 00 FD 01 00 00 B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

Encoding the characters from index 4 through 6:
System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 10  11  :2B 41 37 4C 59 2F 39 7A 2F 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 6   12  :CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 8   16  :B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

*/

Remarks

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The Encoding.GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should use the string version of GetBytes.

  • The Unicode character buffer version of GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32) allows some fast techniques, particularly with multiple calls using the Encoder object or inserting into existing buffers. Bear in mind, however, that this method version is sometimes unsafe, since pointers are required.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

See also

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

GetBytes(ReadOnlySpan<Char>, Span<Byte>)

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

When overridden in a derived class, encodes into a span of bytes a set of characters from the specified read-only span.

public virtual int GetBytes (ReadOnlySpan<char> chars, Span<byte> bytes);

Parameters

chars
ReadOnlySpan<Char>

The span containing the set of characters to encode.

bytes
Span<Byte>

The byte span to hold the encoded bytes.

Returns

The number of encoded bytes.

Remarks

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The Encoding.GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should use the string version of GetBytes.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Standard 2.1

GetBytes(Char[], Int32, Int32)

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters from the specified character array into a sequence of bytes.

public virtual byte[] GetBytes (char[] chars, int index, int count);

Parameters

chars
Char[]

The character array containing the set of characters to encode.

index
Int32

The index of the first character to encode.

count
Int32

The number of characters to encode.

Returns

Byte[]

A byte array containing the results of encoding the specified set of characters.

Exceptions

chars is null.

index or count is less than zero.

-or-

index and count do not denote a valid range in chars.

A fallback occurred (for more information, see Character Encoding in .NET)

-and-

EncoderFallback is set to EncoderExceptionFallback.

Examples

The following example determines the number of bytes required to encode three characters from a character array, encodes the characters, and displays the resulting bytes.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class SamplesEncoding  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // The characters to encode:
      //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      //    a high-surrogate value (U+D8FF)
      //    a low-surrogate value (U+DCFF)
      char[] myChars = new char[] { 'z', 'a', '\u0306', '\u01FD', '\u03B2', '\uD8FF', '\uDCFF' };

      // Get different encodings.
      Encoding  u7    = Encoding.UTF7;
      Encoding  u8    = Encoding.UTF8;
      Encoding  u16LE = Encoding.Unicode;
      Encoding  u16BE = Encoding.BigEndianUnicode;
      Encoding  u32   = Encoding.UTF32;

      // Encode three characters starting at index 4, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u32 );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( char[] chars, int index, int count, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( chars, index, count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode the array of chars.
      byte[] bytes = enc.GetBytes( chars, index, count );

      // The following is an alternative way to encode the array of chars:
      // byte[] bytes = new byte[iBC];
      // enc.GetBytes( chars, index, count, bytes, bytes.GetLowerBound(0) );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintHexBytes( byte[] bytes )  {

      if (( bytes == null ) || ( bytes.Length == 0 ))
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "<none>" );
        }
        else  {
         for ( int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++ )
            Console.Write( "{0:X2} ", bytes[i] );
         Console.WriteLine();
      }
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.

System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 10  11  :2B 41 37 4C 59 2F 39 7A 2F 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 6   12  :CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 8   16  :B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

*/

Remarks

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The Encoding.GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should use the string version of GetBytes.

  • The Unicode character buffer version of GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32) allows some fast techniques, particularly with multiple calls using the Encoder object or inserting into existing buffers. Bear in mind, however, that this method version is sometimes unsafe, since pointers are required.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

See also

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

GetBytes(String, Int32, Int32)

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

When overridden in a derived class, encodes into an array of bytes the number of characters specified by count in the specified string, starting from the specified index.

public byte[] GetBytes (string s, int index, int count);

Parameters

s
String

The string containing the characters to encode.

index
Int32

The index inside the string to start the encoding from.

count
Int32

The number of characters to encode.

Returns

Byte[]

A byte array containing the results of encoding the specified set of characters.

Examples

The following example determines the number of bytes required to encode a string or a range in the string, encodes the characters, and displays the resulting bytes.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class SamplesEncoding  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // The characters to encode:
      //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      //    a high-surrogate value (U+D8FF)
      //    a low-surrogate value (U+DCFF)
      String myStr = "za\u0306\u01FD\u03B2\uD8FF\uDCFF";

      // Get different encodings.
      Encoding  u7    = Encoding.UTF7;
      Encoding  u8    = Encoding.UTF8;
      Encoding  u16LE = Encoding.Unicode;
      Encoding  u16BE = Encoding.BigEndianUnicode;
      Encoding  u32   = Encoding.UTF32;

      // Encode the entire string, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      Console.WriteLine( "Encoding the entire string:" );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u32 );

      Console.WriteLine();

      // Encode three characters starting at index 4, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      Console.WriteLine( "Encoding the characters from index 4 through 6:" );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u32 );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( String s, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( s );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( s.Length );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode the entire string.
      byte[] bytes = enc.GetBytes( s );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( String s, int index, int count, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( s.ToCharArray(), index, count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode a range of characters in the string.
      byte[] bytes = new byte[iBC];
      enc.GetBytes( s, index, count, bytes, bytes.GetLowerBound(0) );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintHexBytes( byte[] bytes )  {

      if (( bytes == null ) || ( bytes.Length == 0 ))
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "<none>" );
        }
        else  {
         for ( int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++ )
            Console.Write( "{0:X2} ", bytes[i] );
         Console.WriteLine();
      }
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.

Encoding the entire string:
System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 18  23  :7A 61 2B 41 77 59 42 2F 51 4F 79 32 50 2F 63 2F 77 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 12  24  :7A 61 CC 86 C7 BD CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :7A 00 61 00 06 03 FD 01 B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :00 7A 00 61 03 06 01 FD 03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 24  32  :7A 00 00 00 61 00 00 00 06 03 00 00 FD 01 00 00 B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

Encoding the characters from index 4 through 6:
System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 10  11  :2B 41 37 4C 59 2F 39 7A 2F 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 6   12  :CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 8   16  :B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

*/

Remarks

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The Encoding.GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should use the string version of GetBytes.

  • The Unicode character buffer version of GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32) allows some fast techniques, particularly with multiple calls using the Encoder object or inserting into existing buffers. Bear in mind, however, that this method version is sometimes unsafe, since pointers are required.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Standard 2.1

GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32)

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

Important

This API is not CLS-compliant.

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters starting at the specified character pointer into a sequence of bytes that are stored starting at the specified byte pointer.

[System.CLSCompliant(false)]
[System.Security.SecurityCritical]
public virtual int GetBytes (char* chars, int charCount, byte* bytes, int byteCount);
[System.CLSCompliant(false)]
public virtual int GetBytes (char* chars, int charCount, byte* bytes, int byteCount);
[System.CLSCompliant(false)]
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisible(false)]
public virtual int GetBytes (char* chars, int charCount, byte* bytes, int byteCount);
[System.CLSCompliant(false)]
[System.Security.SecurityCritical]
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisible(false)]
public virtual int GetBytes (char* chars, int charCount, byte* bytes, int byteCount);

Parameters

chars
Char*

A pointer to the first character to encode.

charCount
Int32

The number of characters to encode.

bytes
Byte*

A pointer to the location at which to start writing the resulting sequence of bytes.

byteCount
Int32

The maximum number of bytes to write.

Returns

The actual number of bytes written at the location indicated by the bytes parameter.

Attributes

Exceptions

chars is null.

-or-

bytes is null.

charCount or byteCount is less than zero.

byteCount is less than the resulting number of bytes.

A fallback occurred (for more information, see Character Encoding in .NET)

-and-

EncoderFallback is set to EncoderExceptionFallback.

Remarks

To calculate the exact array size that GetBytes requires to store the resulting bytes, call the GetByteCount method. To calculate the maximum array size, call the GetMaxByteCount method. The GetByteCount method generally allows allocation of less memory, while the GetMaxByteCount method generally executes faster.

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder object provided by the GetDecoder or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should use the string version of GetBytes.

  • The Unicode character buffer version of GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32) allows some fast techniques, particularly with multiple calls using the Encoder object or inserting into existing buffers. Bear in mind, however, that this method version is sometimes unsafe, since pointers are required.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

See also

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

GetBytes(Char[], Int32, Int32, Byte[], Int32)

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters from the specified character array into the specified byte array.

public abstract int GetBytes (char[] chars, int charIndex, int charCount, byte[] bytes, int byteIndex);

Parameters

chars
Char[]

The character array containing the set of characters to encode.

charIndex
Int32

The index of the first character to encode.

charCount
Int32

The number of characters to encode.

bytes
Byte[]

The byte array to contain the resulting sequence of bytes.

byteIndex
Int32

The index at which to start writing the resulting sequence of bytes.

Returns

The actual number of bytes written into bytes.

Exceptions

chars is null.

-or-

bytes is null.

charIndex or charCount or byteIndex is less than zero.

-or-

charIndex and charCount do not denote a valid range in chars.

-or-

byteIndex is not a valid index in bytes.

bytes does not have enough capacity from byteIndex to the end of the array to accommodate the resulting bytes.

A fallback occurred (for more information, see Character Encoding in .NET)

-and-

EncoderFallback is set to EncoderExceptionFallback.

Examples

The following example determines the number of bytes required to encode three characters from a character array, encodes the characters, and displays the resulting bytes.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class SamplesEncoding  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // The characters to encode:
      //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      //    a high-surrogate value (U+D8FF)
      //    a low-surrogate value (U+DCFF)
      char[] myChars = new char[] { 'z', 'a', '\u0306', '\u01FD', '\u03B2', '\uD8FF', '\uDCFF' };

      // Get different encodings.
      Encoding  u7    = Encoding.UTF7;
      Encoding  u8    = Encoding.UTF8;
      Encoding  u16LE = Encoding.Unicode;
      Encoding  u16BE = Encoding.BigEndianUnicode;
      Encoding  u32   = Encoding.UTF32;

      // Encode three characters starting at index 4, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myChars, 4, 3, u32 );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( char[] chars, int index, int count, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( chars, index, count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode the array of chars.
      byte[] bytes = enc.GetBytes( chars, index, count );

      // The following is an alternative way to encode the array of chars:
      // byte[] bytes = new byte[iBC];
      // enc.GetBytes( chars, index, count, bytes, bytes.GetLowerBound(0) );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintHexBytes( byte[] bytes )  {

      if (( bytes == null ) || ( bytes.Length == 0 ))
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "<none>" );
        }
        else  {
         for ( int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++ )
            Console.Write( "{0:X2} ", bytes[i] );
         Console.WriteLine();
      }
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.

System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 10  11  :2B 41 37 4C 59 2F 39 7A 2F 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 6   12  :CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 8   16  :B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

*/

Remarks

To calculate the exact array size required by GetBytes to store the resulting bytes, you should call the GetByteCount method. To calculate the maximum array size, call the GetMaxByteCount method. The GetByteCount method generally allows allocation of less memory, while the GetMaxByteCount method generally executes faster.

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The Encoding.GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should use the string version of GetBytes.

  • The Unicode character buffer version of GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32) allows some fast techniques, particularly with multiple calls using the Encoder object or inserting into existing buffers. Bear in mind, however, that this method version is sometimes unsafe, since pointers are required.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

See also

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

GetBytes(String, Int32, Int32, Byte[], Int32)

Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs
Source:
Encoding.cs

When overridden in a derived class, encodes a set of characters from the specified string into the specified byte array.

public virtual int GetBytes (string s, int charIndex, int charCount, byte[] bytes, int byteIndex);

Parameters

s
String

The string containing the set of characters to encode.

charIndex
Int32

The index of the first character to encode.

charCount
Int32

The number of characters to encode.

bytes
Byte[]

The byte array to contain the resulting sequence of bytes.

byteIndex
Int32

The index at which to start writing the resulting sequence of bytes.

Returns

The actual number of bytes written into bytes.

Exceptions

s is null.

-or-

bytes is null.

charIndex or charCount or byteIndex is less than zero.

-or-

charIndex and charCount do not denote a valid range in chars.

-or-

byteIndex is not a valid index in bytes.

bytes does not have enough capacity from byteIndex to the end of the array to accommodate the resulting bytes.

A fallback occurred (for more information, see Character Encoding in .NET)

-and-

EncoderFallback is set to EncoderExceptionFallback.

Examples

The following example determines the number of bytes required to encode a string or a range in the string, encodes the characters, and displays the resulting bytes.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class SamplesEncoding  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // The characters to encode:
      //    Latin Small Letter Z (U+007A)
      //    Latin Small Letter A (U+0061)
      //    Combining Breve (U+0306)
      //    Latin Small Letter AE With Acute (U+01FD)
      //    Greek Small Letter Beta (U+03B2)
      //    a high-surrogate value (U+D8FF)
      //    a low-surrogate value (U+DCFF)
      String myStr = "za\u0306\u01FD\u03B2\uD8FF\uDCFF";

      // Get different encodings.
      Encoding  u7    = Encoding.UTF7;
      Encoding  u8    = Encoding.UTF8;
      Encoding  u16LE = Encoding.Unicode;
      Encoding  u16BE = Encoding.BigEndianUnicode;
      Encoding  u32   = Encoding.UTF32;

      // Encode the entire string, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      Console.WriteLine( "Encoding the entire string:" );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, u32 );

      Console.WriteLine();

      // Encode three characters starting at index 4, and print out the counts and the resulting bytes.
      Console.WriteLine( "Encoding the characters from index 4 through 6:" );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u7 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u8 );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u16LE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u16BE );
      PrintCountsAndBytes( myStr, 4, 3, u32 );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( String s, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( s );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( s.Length );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode the entire string.
      byte[] bytes = enc.GetBytes( s );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintCountsAndBytes( String s, int index, int count, Encoding enc )  {

      // Display the name of the encoding used.
      Console.Write( "{0,-30} :", enc.ToString() );

      // Display the exact byte count.
      int iBC  = enc.GetByteCount( s.ToCharArray(), index, count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3}", iBC );

      // Display the maximum byte count.
      int iMBC = enc.GetMaxByteCount( count );
      Console.Write( " {0,-3} :", iMBC );

      // Encode a range of characters in the string.
      byte[] bytes = new byte[iBC];
      enc.GetBytes( s, index, count, bytes, bytes.GetLowerBound(0) );

      // Display all the encoded bytes.
      PrintHexBytes( bytes );
   }

   public static void PrintHexBytes( byte[] bytes )  {

      if (( bytes == null ) || ( bytes.Length == 0 ))
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "<none>" );
        }
        else  {
         for ( int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++ )
            Console.Write( "{0:X2} ", bytes[i] );
         Console.WriteLine();
      }
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.

Encoding the entire string:
System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 18  23  :7A 61 2B 41 77 59 42 2F 51 4F 79 32 50 2F 63 2F 77 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 12  24  :7A 61 CC 86 C7 BD CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :7A 00 61 00 06 03 FD 01 B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 14  16  :00 7A 00 61 03 06 01 FD 03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 24  32  :7A 00 00 00 61 00 00 00 06 03 00 00 FD 01 00 00 B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

Encoding the characters from index 4 through 6:
System.Text.UTF7Encoding       : 10  11  :2B 41 37 4C 59 2F 39 7A 2F 2D
System.Text.UTF8Encoding       : 6   12  :CE B2 F1 8F B3 BF
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :B2 03 FF D8 FF DC
System.Text.UnicodeEncoding    : 6   8   :03 B2 D8 FF DC FF
System.Text.UTF32Encoding      : 8   16  :B2 03 00 00 FF FC 04 00

*/

Remarks

To calculate the exact array size required by GetBytes to store the resulting bytes, you should call the GetByteCount method. To calculate the maximum array size, call the GetMaxByteCount method. The GetByteCount method generally allows allocation of less memory, while the GetMaxByteCount method generally executes faster.

If the data to be converted is available only in sequential blocks (such as data read from a stream) or if the amount of data is so large that it needs to be divided into smaller blocks, you should use the Decoder or the Encoder provided by the GetDecoder method or the GetEncoder method, respectively, of a derived class.

The GetByteCount method determines how many bytes result in encoding a set of Unicode characters, and the GetBytes method performs the actual encoding. The Encoding.GetBytes method expects discrete conversions, in contrast to the Encoder.GetBytes method, which handles multiple conversions on a single input stream.

Several versions of GetByteCount and GetBytes are supported. The following are some programming considerations for use of these methods:

  • Your app might need to encode many input characters to a code page and process the characters using multiple calls. In this case, you probably need to maintain state between calls, taking into account the state that is persisted by the Encoder object being used. (For example, a character sequence that includes surrogate pairs might end with a high surrogate. The Encoder will remember that high surrogate so that it can be combined with a low surrogate at the beginning of a following call. Encoding won't be able to maintain the state, so the character will be sent to the EncoderFallback.)

  • If your app handles string inputs, you should use the string version of GetBytes.

  • The Unicode character buffer version of GetBytes(Char*, Int32, Byte*, Int32) allows some fast techniques, particularly with multiple calls using the Encoder object or inserting into existing buffers. Bear in mind, however, that this method version is sometimes unsafe, since pointers are required.

  • If your app must convert a large amount of data, it should reuse the output buffer. In this case, the GetBytes version that supports byte arrays is the best choice.

  • Consider using the Encoder.Convert method instead of GetByteCount. The conversion method converts as much data as possible, and does throw an exception if the output buffer is too small. For continuous encoding of a stream, this method is often the best choice.

See also

Applies to

.NET 9 and other versions
Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0