>>>>>>Hi All, just messing around - not a work thing - if I have a string of binary digits such as
>>>>>>
>>>>>>

>>>>>>string s = "0101000001000101010101000100010101010010"
>>>>>>

>>>>>>
>>>>>>how do I convert it to text ?, all the Convert.* methods I've looked at require a byte[] array as an arg and I don't know how to create one !
>>>>>
>>>>>Pete,
>>>>>
>>>>>I'm not sure whether it's the best way to go , and I have not tested it either, but
>>>>>
>>>>>(1) initialize a BitArray
>>>>>(2) loop throught the string and assign the elements of the bitArray depending on 0 or 1
>>>>>(3) initialize a Byte array
>>>>>(4) I see that the BitARray has a CopyTo method wich accepts a Byte array
>>>>>http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.collections.bitarray.copyto.aspx
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Alternatively, you can directly create a byte array and loop through the string
>>>>>
>>>>>

>>>>>if( string[stringindex] == '1' ) {
>>>>>	the byte index = stringIndex / 8
>>>>>	the bit to set =  7 - (stringIndex %8),
>>>>>
>>>>>	// you may have to cast the right hand side to (byte)
>>>>>
>>>>>	byteArray[ stringIndex / 8] |= ( 1 <<  (  7 - (stringIndex %8)))
>>>>>
>>>>>	or maybe due to widening
>>>>>	byteArray[ stringIndex / 8]  = (byte)( byteArray[ stringIndex / 8]  | byteArray[ stringIndex / 8] | ( 1 <<  (  7 - (stringIndex %8))))
>>>>>}
>>>>>

>>>>
>>>>Hi Greg, thanks for your time - if you see my reply to Neil I can create the byte array but the ConvertToBase64String method returns rubbish. I read the M$ article and can't really see the point of BitArrays ? - maybe that's me :-(
>>>
>>>
>>>(1) BitArray - was my first thought - not the best way
>>>(2) ConvertToBase64String: I thought it was a binary string - base 64 encoding is something else
>>>
>>>(3) I see Viv has come up with a faster way
>>
>>Just to exercise my new found 'Effective C#' knowledge :-} :

static IEnumerable<char> GetChars(string s)
>>   {
>>        return Enumerable.Range(0, s.Length / 8).Select(i =>
>>        Convert.ToChar(Convert.ToInt32(s.Substring(i * 8, 8),2)));
>>    }

then

string result = string.Empty;
>>foreach (char c in GetChars(s1))
>>{
>>     result += c;
>> }

Nothing like making it complicated when simple would do :-}
>
>How about returning to the dark ages ?
>
>

>using System;
>using System.Collections.Generic;
>using System.Linq;
>using System.Text;
>using System.Collections;
>namespace BinaryToText
>{
>    class Program
>    {
>        static void Main(string[] args)
>        {
>            // PETER KANE
>            string binarytext = "01010000010001010101010001000101010100100010000001001011010000010100111001000101";
>          
>            for (int i = 0; i < binarytext.Length; i+= 8)
>            {
>                Console.Write(Bin2Dec(binarytext.Substring(i, 8)));
>            }
>
>            Console.WriteLine();
>        }
>
>
>        static char Bin2Dec(string binstr)
>        {
>            if(binstr.Trim().Length != 8)
>                return ' ';
>
>            int retval = 0;
>            int len = binstr.Length - 1 ;
>            
>            for (int i = 0; i <= binstr.Length - 1; i++)
>                if (binstr[len - i] == '1')
>                    retval += (int)Math.Pow((double)2, (double)i);
>
>            return((char)retval);
>        }
>    }
>}
>
>

Coffee break. Here's a method to do the reverse:

static string ConvertToBinaryString(string s)
        {
            char[] input = s.Reverse().ToArray();
            char[] output = new char[input.Length * 8];
            int pos = output.Length - 1;
            for (int i = 0; i < input.Length; i++)
            {
                 for (byte i2 = 0; i2 < 8; i2++)
                    output[pos--] = (input[i] & (1 << i2)) != 0 ? '1' : '0';
            }
            return new string(output);
        }