Converting bytes[] to literal string

Question

I have a problem in my C# program. I am currently developing a gateway (both TCP and UDP protocols), and have to log the traffic to a file. I got some test data to try my gateway with. Example data: ASYRE\x00\x00\x01.

My program should log this into a file, and here comes my problem: When logging to the file (or writing it onto the Console) i get ASYRE, and the special \x00\x00\x01 characters will be decoded in the file, however, i have to log them as they came in, so when logging they should be "ASYRE\x00\x00\x01".

I tried using Encoding.Default.GetString(), Convert.ToString(), Parse and even Regex, but I don't know how to get it to be logged correctly.

Hi, could you show how you save and read data? If you use text editors to see what data is being written they probably will not display raw bytes correctly. Is the output binary data - then you'd need to read it as binary. — oleksii
– oleksii, Commented Dec 6, 2021 at 11:34
The data comes in through the network from a client written in Python, where it is like this: msg1 = b'ASYRE\x00\x00\x01' In the Python program's logger there is no problem to log it as it goes out: 127.0.0.1:53760 -> 127.0.0.1:1002 (8b) b'ASYRE\x00\x00\x01' (from the Python log file) I recieve the program on in my C# program through sockets: int len; len = stream.Read(message, 0, message.Length); byte[] msg = new byte[len]; Array.Copy(message, msg, len); — Malathiane
– Malathiane, Commented Dec 6, 2021 at 11:45
what happens when someone sends Renée ? Will it output Renée or will it output Ren\xc3\xa9e (or something else...) ? — Luuk
– Luuk, Commented Dec 6, 2021 at 12:03

Dmitrii Bychenko · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-06 11:44:26Z

You are looking for a string Dump, which you can implement with a help of Linq:

using System.Linq; ... private static string Dump(string value) { if (null == value) return "[null]"; return string.Concat(value.Select(c => c < ' ' ? $"\\x{(int)c:x2}" : char.GetUnicodeCategory(c) == UnicodeCategory.Format ? $"\\u{(int)c:x4}" : c.ToString())); }

If you want a solution without Linq, have a look at StringBuilder:

private static string Dump(string value) { if (null == value) return "[null]"; StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); foreach(char c in value) if (c < ' ') sb.Append($"\\x{(int)c:x2}"); else if (char.GetUnicodeCategory(c) == UnicodeCategory.Format) sb.Append($"\\u{(int)c:x4}"); else sb.Append(c); return sb.ToString(); }

Demo:

Console.Write(Dump("ASYRE\x00\x00\x01"));

Outcome:

ASYRE\x00\x00\x01

Hans Kilian · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-06 11:55:40Z

Something short that assumes you're working with ASCII

byte[] input = { 65, 83, 89, 82, 69, 0, 0, 1 }; var output = string.Concat(input.Select(b => b < 32 ? $"\\x{b:X02}" : Encoding.ASCII.GetString(new byte[] {b}))); System.Console.WriteLine(output);

prints ASYRE\x00\x00\x01

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