I have this conversion in my Kotlin class for Android:
val binary = "01000100000111001011011011100010111000110011010111010110"
val hexadecimal = BigInteger(binary, 2).toString(16)
Which is producing the expected value of 441CB6E2E335D6.
Now I want to reproduce this in Visual Basic and I am doing something like this:
Dim binary = "01000100000111001011011011100010111000110011010111010110"
Dim hexadecimal = BigInteger.Parse(binary, 2).ToString("X")
Which is producing 0A7108304A751AFEC876F740BC1F2CB59772FB7C6C753E.
I am not an expert in Visual Basic, but from what I researched, I think this is the right way to convert a binary to hexadecimal. What I am doing wrong?
You can write a simple parser for the string representing the bits:
Dim sb As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()
For pos As Integer = 0 To binary.Length - 8 Step 8
sb.Append(Convert.ToByte(binary.Substring(pos, 8), 2).ToString("X2"))
Next
Console.WriteLine(sb) will print "441CB6E2E335D6"
Or use a Module to add an extension method to the string data type:
Imports System.Runtime.CompilerServices
Imports System.Text
Module modStringExtensions
<Extension()>
Public Function ToHexFromBits(ByVal Value As String) As String
If (Not (Value.Length Mod 8 = 0)) Then Throw New FormatException("Invalid string length")
Dim sb As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()
For pos As Integer = 0 To Value.Length - 8 Step 8
sb.Append(Convert.ToByte(Value.Substring(pos, 8), 2).ToString("X2"))
Next
Return sb.ToString()
End Function
End Module
Then use the extension to convert the bits string to a HEX representation:
Dim result As String = binary.ToHexFromBits()
Following code is c#, but might not be too hard to translate it to vb.net.
string BinToHex(string value)
{
var res = new char[(int)(value.Length / 4)];
int j = res.Length-1;
for (int i = value.Length - 1; i > 0; i -= 4)
{
int x = ((int)value[i]-48)
+((int)value[i-1]-48)*2
+((int)value[i-2]-48)*4
+((int)value[i-3]-48)*8;
res[j--] = x.ToString("X")[0];
}
return new string(res);
}
Beware: it won't handle input that has not the proper number of bits (multiple of 4). Anyway, the idea is that you can translate between base 2 and base 16 without the use of base 10. You could even step from left to right.
Related
How are you?
I wrote a program manipulating big binary chains (string variables). This said manipulation requires me to store my chains in a variable so I can use them as numbers. The only variable type that I have found big enough to store such lengthy numbers is BigInteger (we are talking 1.0E100+).
I would like to use something like:
val = BigInteger.Parse(bin, 2)
But the second parameter needed is a NumberStyles object, which can only refer to a NumberStyles.HexNumber.
Is there a simple/optimal way to do this?
Thank you very much. :)
This converts a binary string to BigInteger in 8 bit chunks. It assumes that the binary string represents a positive number.
Private Function BinToBI(ByRef binstr As String) As BigInteger
Dim t As New List(Of Byte)
Dim s As String
Dim idx As Integer = binstr.Length
Do While idx > 0
'get 8 bits
If idx >= 8 Then
s = binstr.Substring(idx - 8, 8)
Else
s = binstr.Substring(0, idx).PadLeft(8, "0"c)
End If
'convert to byte and add to list
Dim b As Byte = Convert.ToByte(s, 2)
t.Add(b)
idx -= 8
Loop
'force to positive
If t(t.Count - 1) >= 128 Then
t.Add(0)
End If
Dim rv As New BigInteger(t.ToArray)
Return rv
End Function
for testing
Dim d As Double = 1.0E+101
Debug.WriteLine(d.ToString("n2"))
Dim bi As BigInteger
' Dim bin As String = "1111111111111111111111111111111" 'Integer.MaxValue
' Dim bin As String = "111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111" 'Long.MaxValue
Dim bin As String = "1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111110"
bi = BinToBI(bin)
Debug.WriteLine(bi.ToString("n2"))
This was not well tested but should give you some ideas.
I have two strings:
Dim Original_Hex_Bytes as string = "616572646E61"
Dim Patched_Hex_Bytes as string = "616E64726561"
Then I have a binary file and I need to search for the Original_Hex_Bytes and replace them with Patched_Hex_Bytes; I don't konw the offset where begin to write new bytes :(
How can I do this?
If needed, I also know how to convert Hex strings in bytes, I use this:
Private Function Hex_To_Bytes(ByVal strinput As String) As Byte()
Dim i As Integer = 0
Dim x As Integer = 0
Dim bytes(strinput.Length / 2) As Byte
Do While (strinput.Length > i + 1)
Dim lngDecimal As Long = Convert.ToInt32(strinput.Substring(i, 2), 16)
bytes(x) = Convert.ToByte(lngDecimal)
i += 2
x += 1
Loop
Return bytes
End Function
You can use BinaryReader and BinaryWriter classes to achieve this.
But in this case, as you do not know the file structure, need to read the entire file and sweep it in search of bytes array and will be easier to use ASCII strings as aerdna and andrea.
When you know the structure of a file is more appropriate to work with data structure to manipulate its contents.
I have a plain text string that I'm converting to a byte array and then to a string and storing in a database.
Here is how I'm doing it:
Dim b As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Hello")
Dim s As String = BitConverter.ToString(b).Replace("-", "")
Afterwards I store the value of s (which is "48656C6C6F") into a database.
Later on, I want to retrieve this value from the database and convert it back to "Hello". How would I do that?
You can call the following function with your hex string and get "Hello" returned to you. Note that the function doesn't validate the input, you would need to add validation unless you can be sure the input is valid.
Private Function HexToString(ByVal hex As String) As String
Dim result As String = ""
For i As integer = 0 To hex.Length - 1 Step 2
Dim num As Integer = Convert.ToInt32(hex.Substring(i, 2), 16)
result &= Chr(num)
Next
Return result
End Function
James Thorpe points out in his comment that it would be more appropriate to use Encoding.UTF8.GetString to convert back to a string as that is the reverse of the method used to create the hex string in the first place. I agree, but as my original answer was already accepted, I hesitate to change it, so I am adding an alternative version. The note about validation of input being skipped still applies.
Private Function HexToString(ByVal hex As String) As String
Dim bytes(hex.Length \ 2 - 1) As Byte
For i As Integer = 0 To hex.Length - 1 Step 2
bytes(i \ 2) = Byte.Parse(hex.Substring(i, 2), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber)
Next
Return System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes)
End Function
I wish to convert text to base 4 (AGCT), by first converting it to binary (I've done this bit) and then break it into 2 bit pairs.
can someone help me turn this into code using vb.net syntax?
if (length of binary String is an odd number) add a zero to the front (leftmost position) of the String. Create an empty String to add translated digits to. While the original String of binary is not empty { Translate the first two digits only of the binary String into a base-4 digit, and add this digit to the end (rightmost) index of the new String. After this, remove the same two digits from the binary string and repeat if it is not empty. }
in this context:
Dim Base2Convert As String = ""
For Each C As Char In Result.Text
Dim s As String = System.Convert.ToString(AscW(C), 2).PadLeft(8, "0")
Base2Convert &= s
Next
Result.Text = Base2Convert
Dim Base4Convert As String = ""
For Each C As Char In Result.Text
'//<ADD THE STATEMENT ABOVE AS CODE HERE>//
Base4Convert &= s
Next
Result.Text = Base4Convert
.NET does not support conversion to non-standard base, such as 4, so this will not work:
Dim base4number As String = Convert.ToString(base10number, 4)
From MSDN:
[...] base of the return value [...] must be 2, 8, 10, or 16.
But you can write your own conversion function, or take the existing one off the web:
Public Function IntToStringFast(value As Integer, baseChars As Char()) As String
Dim i As Integer = 32
Dim buffer(i - 1) As Char
Dim targetBase As Integer = baseChars.Length
Do
buffer(System.Threading.Interlocked.Decrement(i)) =
baseChars(value Mod targetBase)
value = value \ targetBase
Loop While value > 0
Dim result As Char() = New Char(32 - i - 1) {}
Array.Copy(buffer, i, result, 0, 32 - i)
Return New String(result)
End Function
Used this answer. Converted with developer fusion from C# + minor adjustments. Example:
Dim base2number As String = "11110" 'Decimal 30
Dim base10number As Integer = Convert.ToInt32(base2number, 2)
Dim base4number As String = IntToStringFast(base10number, "0123")
Console.WriteLine(base4number) 'outputs 132
Notice that you don't need base 2 there as an intermediate value, you can convert directly from base 10. If in doubt, whether it worked correctly or not, here is a useful resource:
Number base converter
Converting the number to base first and then to base 4 doesn’t make a lot of sense, since directly converting to base 4 is the same algorithm anyway. In fact, representation of a number in any base requires the same general algorithm:
Public Shared Function Representation(number As Integer, digits As String) As String
Dim result = ""
Dim b = digits.Length
Do
result = digits(number Mod b) & result
number \= b
Loop While number > 0
Return result
End Function
Now you can verify that Representation(i, decimal) does the same as i.ToString():
Dim decimalDigits = "0123456789"
For i = 0 To 30 Step 3
Console.WriteLine("{0}, {1}", i.ToString(), Representation(i, decimalDigits))
Next
It’s worth noting that i.ToString() converts i to decimal base because this is the base we, humans, are mostly using. But there is nothing special about decimal, and in fact internally, i is not a decimal number: its representation in computer memory is binary.
For conversion to any other base, just pass a different set of digits to the method. In your case, that’d be "ACGT":
Console.WriteLine(Representation(i, "ACGT"))
Hexadecimal also works:
Console.WriteLine(Representation(i, "0123456789ABCDEF"))
And, just to repeat it because it’s such a nice mathematical property: so does any other base with at least two distinct digits.
I have a string in VB.net that may contain something like the following:
This is a 0x000020AC symbol
This is the UTF-32 encoding for the Euro Symbol according to this article http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/20ac/index.htm
I'd like to convert this into
This is a € symbol
I've tried using UnicodeEncoding() class in VB.net (Framework 2.0, as I'm modifying a legacy application)
When I use this class to encode, and then decode I still get back the original string.
I expected that the UnicodeEncoding would recognise the already encoded part and not encode it against. But it appears to not be the case.
I'm a little lost now as to how I can convert a mixed encoded string into a normal string.
Background: When saving an Excel spreadsheet as CSV, anything outside of the ascii range gets converted to ?. So my idea is that if I can get my client to search/replace a few characters, such as the Euro symbol, into an encoded string such as 0x000020AC. Then I was hoping to convert those encoded parts back into the real symbols before I insert to a SQL database.
I've tried a function such as
Public Function Decode(ByVal s As String) As String
Dim uni As New UnicodeEncoding()
Dim encodedBytes As Byte() = uni.GetBytes(s)
Dim output As String = ""
output = uni.GetString(encodedBytes)
Return output
End Function
Which was based on the examples on the MSDN at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.text.unicodeencoding.aspx
It could be that I have a complete mis-understanding of how this works in VB.net. In C# I can simply use escaped characters such as "\u20AC". But no such thing exists in VB.net.
Based on advice from Heinzi I implemented a Regex.Replace method using the following code, this appear to work for my examples.
Public Function Decode(ByVal s As String) As String
Dim output As String = ""
Dim sRegex As String = "0x[0-9a-zA-Z]{8}"
Dim r As Regex = New Regex(sRegex)
Dim myEvaluator As MatchEvaluator = New MatchEvaluator(AddressOf HexToString)
output = r.Replace(s, myEvaluator)
Return output
End Function
Public Function HexToString(ByVal hexString As Match) As String
Dim uni As New UnicodeEncoding(True, True)
Dim input As String = hexString.ToString
input = input.Substring(2)
input = input.TrimStart("0"c)
Dim output As String
Dim length As Integer = input.Length
Dim upperBound As Integer = length \ 2
If length Mod 2 = 0 Then
upperBound -= 1
Else
input = "0" & input
End If
Dim bytes(upperBound) As Byte
For i As Integer = 0 To upperBound
bytes(i) = Convert.ToByte(input.Substring(i * 2, 2), 16)
Next
output = uni.GetString(bytes)
Return output
End Function
Have you tried:
Public Function Decode(Byval Coded as string) as string
Return StrConv(Coded, vbUnicode)
End Function
Also, your function is invalid. It takes s as an argument, does a load of stuff and then outputs the s that was put into it instead of the stuff that was processed within it.