C# Convert

last modified July 5, 2023

In this article we show to convert types in C# with Convert class.

Convert transforms a base data type to another base data type.

The Convert class is located in the System namespace.

Type conversion or typecasting refers to changing an entity of one data type into another. There are two types of conversion: implicit and explicit. Implicit type conversion, also known as coercion, is an automatic type conversion by the compiler.

C# convertion types

In the next example, we present three ways of data convertion.

int n = 12;
string s  = "15";

string res = n + s;
Console.WriteLine(res);

int res2 = int.Parse(s) + n;
Console.WriteLine(res2);

int res3 = Convert.ToInt32(s) + n;
Console.WriteLine(res3);

The program defines an integer and a string. We add those two values.

int res = n + s;

By default, the compiler implicitly converts the integer to a string and adds two strings.

int res2 = int.Parse(s) + n;

We can use the int.Parse method to explicitly convert the string to an integer and add two integers.

int res3 = Convert.ToInt32(s) + n;

Alternatively, we can use the Convert.ToInt32 method. The Convert class contains several methods for common type convertions.

$ dotnet run
1215
27
27

C# Conver.ToBoolean

The Conver.ToBoolean method converts a specified value to an equivalent Boolean value.

double n1 = 0.3;
int n2 = 3;
int n3 = 0;
int n4 = -1;

decimal d = 0.35m;

Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBoolean(n1));
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBoolean(n2));
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBoolean(n3));
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBoolean(n4));
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBoolean(d));

In the program, we convert double, int, and decimal values to booleans.

$ dotnet run
True
True
False
True
True

C# Convert hexadecimal string

The Convert.ToHexString converts an array of 8-bit unsigned integers to its equivalent string representation that is encoded with uppercase hex characters.

The Convert.FromHexString converts the specified string, which encodes binary data as hex characters, to an equivalent 8-bit unsigned integer array.

using System.Text;

string msg = "an old falcon";
byte[] data = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(msg) ;

string hexstr = Convert.ToHexString(data);
Console.WriteLine(hexstr);

byte[] data2 = Convert.FromHexString(hexstr);
Console.WriteLine(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data2));

The program converts a message to a hexadecimal string and vice versa.

$ dotnet run
616E206F6C642066616C636F6E
an old falcon

C# Convert.ToBase64String

The Convert.ToBase64String converts an array of 8-bit unsigned integers to its equivalent string representation that is encoded with base-64 digits.

Conversely, the Convert.FromBase64String method converts Converts the specified string, which encodes binary data as base-64 digits, to an equivalent 8-bit unsigned integer array.

Base64 encoding is widely used for sending e-mail attachments.

using System.Text;

string msg = "an old falcon";

byte[] data = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(msg);
Console.WriteLine(BitConverter.ToString(data));

string base64 = Convert.ToBase64String(data);
Console.WriteLine(base64);

Console.WriteLine("---------------------");

byte[] data2 = Convert.FromBase64String(base64);
Console.WriteLine(BitConverter.ToString(data));
Console.WriteLine(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data));

In the program, we convert a string to a byte array and later the array into the Base64 string. They we reverse the process.

$ dotnet run
61-6E-20-6F-6C-64-20-66-61-6C-63-6F-6E
YW4gb2xkIGZhbGNvbg==
---------------------
61-6E-20-6F-6C-64-20-66-61-6C-63-6F-6E
an old falcon

C# Convert.ToDateTime

The Convert.ToDateTime converts the specified string representation of a date and time to an equivalent date and time value.

public static DateTime ToDateTime (string? value);

This is the syntax of the method.

DateTime now = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine(now);

string d = now.ToString();
Console.WriteLine(d);

DateTime dt = Convert.ToDateTime(d);
Console.WriteLine(dt);

In the example, we convert the current datetime to a string and the string back to a datetime.

$ dotnet run
10/23/2022 6:58:09 PM
10/23/2022 6:58:09 PM
10/23/2022 6:58:09 PM

Source

Convert class - language reference

In this article we have shown how to convert types in C# with Convert.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar and I am a passionate programmer with many years of programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. So far, I have written over 1400 articles and 8 e-books. I have over eight years of experience in teaching programming.

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