Convert string containing binary hex in ASCII into Buffer

Question

I am using node.js.

I have this string msg_str with the following contents "0102ab00aabb00". I want to convert this string content (ASCII representing binary hex) and store it into a Buffer such that the contents of the Buffer looks like <01 02 ab 00 aa bb 00 >.

Some preliminary code I wrote which does not work as expected;

msg_str = "0102ab00aabb00";
buffer_binary = new Buffer(msg_str);
console.log(msg_str);   
console.log(buffer_binary);

The console output of buffer_binary is 30 31 30 32 61 62 30 30 61 61 62 62 30 30. The correct output should be 01 02 ab 00 aa bb 00.

Possible duplicate of Node.js convert hexadecimal number to byteArray — Alex McMillan
– Alex McMillan, Commented Jan 15, 2016 at 3:10

Alex McMillan · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-15 03:08:06Z

9

You need to tell the Buffer constructor that your string is in hex. Fortunately, this is pretty easy :)

msg_str = "0102ab00aabb00";
buffer_binary = new Buffer(msg_str, "hex"); // specify hex
console.log(msg_str); // logs 0102ab00aabb00
console.log(buffer_binary); // logs <Buffer 01 02 ab 00 aa bb 00>

answered Jan 15, 2016 at 3:08

Alex McMillan

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1 Comment

chovy Over a year ago

is there a way to do this in the browser?

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