Converting a hex string to a byte array

Question

What is the best way to convert a variable length hex string e.g. \"01A1\" to a byte array containing that data.

i.e converting this:

st         


        

Answer 1

#include 

using byte = unsigned char;

static int charToInt(char c) {
    if (c >= '0' && c <= '9') {
        return c - '0';
    }
    if (c >= 'A' && c <= 'F') {
        return c - 'A' + 10;
    }
    if (c >= 'a' && c <= 'f') {
        return c - 'a' + 10;
    }
    return -1;
}

// Decodes specified HEX string to bytes array. Specified nBytes is length of bytes
// array. Returns -1 if fails to decode any of bytes. Returns number of bytes decoded
// on success. Maximum number of bytes decoded will be equal to nBytes. It is assumed
// that specified string is '\0' terminated.
int hexStringToBytes(const char* str, byte* bytes, int nBytes) {
    int nDecoded {0};
    for (int i {0}; str[i] != '\0' && nDecoded < nBytes; i += 2, nDecoded += 1) {
        if (str[i + 1] != '\0') {
            int m {charToInt(str[i])};
            int n {charToInt(str[i + 1])};
            if (m != -1 && n != -1) {
                bytes[nDecoded] = (m << 4) | n;
            } else {
                return -1;
            }
        } else {
            return -1;
        }
    }
    return nDecoded;
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
    if (argc < 2) {
        return 1;
    }

    byte bytes[0x100];
    int ret {hexStringToBytes(argv[1], bytes, 0x100)};
    if (ret < 0) {
        return 1;
    }
    std::cout << "number of bytes: " << ret << "\n" << std::hex;
    for (int i {0}; i < ret; ++i) {
        if (bytes[i] < 0x10) {
            std::cout << "0";
        }
        std::cout << (bytes[i] & 0xff);
    }
    std::cout << "\n";

    return 0;
}