Converting a byte to a binary string in c#

Question

In c# I am converting a byte to binary, the actual answer is 00111111 but the result being given is 111111. Now I really need to display even the 2 0s in front. Can anyone tell me how to do this?

I am using:

Convert.ToString(byteArray[20],2) 

and the byte value is 63

Answer 1

Just change your code to:

string yourByteString = Convert.ToString(byteArray[20], 2).PadLeft(8, '0'); // produces "00111111" 

Answer 2

If I understand correctly, you have 20 values that you want to convert, so it's just a simple change of what you wrote.

To change single byte to 8 char string: Convert.ToString( x, 2 ).PadLeft( 8, '0' )

To change full array:

byte[] a = new byte[] { 1, 10, 100, 255, 200, 20, 2 }; string[] b = a.Select( x => Convert.ToString( x, 2 ).PadLeft( 8, '0' ) ).ToArray(); // Returns array: // 00000010 // 00010100 // 11001000 // 11111111 // 01100100 // 00001010 // 00000001 

To change your byte array to single string, with bytes separated with space:

byte[] a = new byte[] { 1, 10, 100, 255, 200, 20, 2 }; string s = string.Join( " ",     a.Select( x => Convert.ToString( x, 2 ).PadLeft( 8, '0' ) ) ); // Returns: 00000001 00001010 01100100 11111111 11001000 00010100 00000010 

if ordering of bytes is incorrect use IEnumerable.Reverse():

byte[] a = new byte[] { 1, 10, 100, 255, 200, 20, 2 }; string s = string.Join( " ",     a.Reverse().Select( x => Convert.ToString( x, 2 ).PadLeft( 8, '0' ) ) ); // Returns: 00000010 00010100 11001000 11111111 01100100 00001010 00000001