Java String to array of bytes wrong conversion

Question

I have a client server Java code and the client is reading in a string "input" and it should then decrypt it, the decryption function needs an array of bytes, so I need to convert the string to array of bytes, which is done using "getBytes()" function, however it seems that this function is modifying the String! How can I convert the string into an array of bytes without changing its content.

   String input = inputline.substring(66, inputline.length());
   System.out.println("Read message +"+input+"+");
   byte[] bx = input.getBytes(Charset.forName("UTF-8"));
   System.out.println("Read message +"+bx.toString()+"+");
   System.out.println("Read message +"+bx+"+");

the output of the code snippet is as follows:

Read message +[B@161cd475+

Read message +[B@4e25154f+

Can I clarify if Read message +[B@161cd475+ is valid for the String 'input' or not? — Alvin Bunk
– Alvin Bunk, Commented Oct 26, 2014 at 3:24

Nagnus6192 · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-26 03:15:26Z

1

Try writing a for loop to print out the results. I believe Java is spitting out a random memory value for your output.

(int i = 0; s <= bx.length;i++)
{
 System.out.println("Read message +" + bx[i].toString() + "+");
 System.out.println("Read message +" + bx + "+");
}

Not sure if my for loop is correct, but it may give you something to work with. I hope this helps.

answered Oct 26, 2014 at 3:15

Nagnus6192

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1 Comment

The Hiary Over a year ago

I got a compilation error "byte cannot be dereferenced"

Alvin Bunk · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-26 04:02:08Z

0

This should work for you. I needed to make a String object from the byte array...

String inputline = "[B@161cd475";
String input = inputline.substring(0, inputline.length());
System.out.println("Read message +"+input+"+");
byte[] bx = input.getBytes();

// Convert to String object
String tmp = new String(bx);
// Print statements.
System.out.println("Read message +" + tmp + "+");

answered Oct 26, 2014 at 4:02

Alvin Bunk

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2 Comments

The Hiary Over a year ago

Thank you, your code outputs the correct output, but I need the byte array "bx" to contain the same values as the String "[B@161cd475" currently it contains "[B@4e25154f" which is not what I want.

Alvin Bunk Over a year ago

Maybe do you mean you should be storing as a char[] array. Since storing as byte[] will store as numbers... (decimal specifically).

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