C++ convert string to hexadecimal and vice versa

Question

What is the best way to convert a string to hex and vice versa in C++?

Example:

A string like "Hello World" to hex format: 48656C6C6F20576F726C64 And from hex 48656C6C6F20576F726C64 to string: "Hello World"

Answer 1

string ToHex(const string& s, bool upper_case /* = true */)
{
    ostringstream ret;

    for (string::size_type i = 0; i < s.length(); ++i)
        ret << std::hex << std::setfill('0') << std::setw(2) << (upper_case ? std::uppercase : std::nouppercase) << (int)s[i];

    return ret.str();
}

int FromHex(const string &s) { return strtoul(s.c_str(), NULL, 16); }

Answer 2

Simplest example using the Standard Library.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
  char c = 'n';
  cout << "HEX " << hex << (int)c << endl;  // output in hexadecimal
  cout << "ASC" << c << endl; // output in ascii
  return 0;
}

To check the output, codepad returns: 6e

and an online ascii-to-hexadecimal conversion tool yields 6e as well. So it works.

You can also do this:

template<class T> std::string toHexString(const T& value, int width) {
    std::ostringstream oss;
    oss << hex;
    if (width > 0) {
        oss << setw(width) << setfill('0');
    }
    oss << value;
    return oss.str();
}

Answer 3

A string like "Hello World" to hex format: 48656C6C6F20576F726C64.

Ah, here you go:

#include string

std::string string_to_hex(const std::string& input)
{
    static const char* const lut = "0123456789ABCDEF";
    size_t len = input.length();

    std::string output;
    output.reserve(2 * len);
    for (size_t i = 0; i < len; ++i)
    {
        const char c = input[i];
        output.push_back(lut[c >> 4]);
        output.push_back(lut[c & 15]);
    }
    return output;
}

#include <algorithm>
#include <stdexcept>

std::string hex_to_string(const std::string& input)
{
    static const char* const lut = "0123456789ABCDEF";
    size_t len = input.length();
    if (len & 1) throw std::invalid_argument("odd length");

    std::string output;
    output.reserve(len / 2);
    for (size_t i = 0; i < len; i += 2)
    {
        char a = input[i];
        const char* p = std::lower_bound(lut, lut + 16, a);
        if (*p != a) throw std::invalid_argument("not a hex digit");

        char b = input[i + 1];
        const char* q = std::lower_bound(lut, lut + 16, b);
        if (*q != b) throw std::invalid_argument("not a hex digit");

        output.push_back(((p - lut) << 4) | (q - lut));
    }
    return output;
}

(This assumes that a char has 8 bits, so it's not very portable, but you can take it from here.)