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

This should get you to your answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/719502/how-can-i-convert-bits-to-bytes

You could just convert your string into an array like that article has, and from there use the same logic to perform the conversion.

Answer 2

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 3

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;
}

Answer 4

Get the characers in groups of eight, and parse to a byte:

string bits = "0000101000010000";

byte[] data =
  Regex.Matches(bits, ".{8}").Cast<Match>()
  .Select(m => Convert.ToByte(m.Groups[0].Value, 2))
  .ToArray();