How to convert a string of bits to byte array

Question

I have a string representing bits, such as:

"0000101000010000"

I want to convert it to get an array of bytes such as:

{0x0A, 0x10}

The number of bytes is variable but there will always be padding to form 8 bits per byte (so 1010 becomes 000010101).

Answer 1

Use the builtin Convert.ToByte() and read in chunks of 8 chars without reinventing the thing..

Unless this is something that should teach you about bitwise operations.

Update:

---

Stealing from Adam (and overusing LINQ, probably. This might be too concise and a normal loop might be better, depending on your own (and your coworker's!) preferences):

public static byte[] GetBytes(string bitString) {
    return Enumerable.Range(0, bitString.Length/8).
        Select(pos => Convert.ToByte(
            bitString.Substring(pos*8, 8),
            2)
        ).ToArray();
}

Answer 2

public static byte[] GetBytes(string bitString)
{
    byte[] output = new byte[bitString.Length / 8];

    for (int i = 0; i < output.Length; i++)
    {
        for (int b = 0; b <= 7; b++)
        {
            output[i] |= (byte)((bitString[i * 8 + b] == '1' ? 1 : 0) << (7 - b));
        }
    }

    return output;
}