Introduction:

The ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) system assigns numerical values to represent characters, making it easier for computers to handle text-based data. This blog will explore multiple methods to convert characters to ASCII values using C#.

Method 1: Using the Convert.ToByte() Method

The Convert.ToByte() method in C# allows us to convert a character directly to its corresponding ASCII value. This simple and straightforward method makes it a popular choice for such conversions. Below is the code snippet demonstrating this method:

char character = 'A';
byte asciiValue = Convert.ToByte(character);
Console.WriteLine($"Character: {character}, ASCII Value: {asciiValue}");

Output:

Character: A, ASCII Value: 65

In this method, we declare a character variable character and assign it the value 'A'. The Convert.ToByte() method takes the character as an argument and returns its ASCII value as a byte. In this case, the ASCII value of 'A' is 65, which is then displayed using the Console.WriteLine() method.

Method 2: Using Type Casting

Another approach to convert a character to its ASCII value is by using type casting. In C#, characters are internally represented as 16-bit Unicode values, which can be directly cast to integers to obtain their ASCII equivalents. Here's how the code looks:

char character = 'B';
int asciiValue = (int)character;
Console.WriteLine($"Character: {character}, ASCII Value: {asciiValue}");

Output:

Character: B, ASCII Value: 66

This method declares a character variable character with the value 'B'. We then perform type casting by converting the character to an integer using (int) before the variable name. The result is the ASCII value of 'B', which is 66. The output is displayed using Console.WriteLine().

Method 3: Using Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes()

The Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes() method is another way to convert a character to its ASCII value. This method returns an array of bytes, and for single characters, it will be an array with only one element. Let's see it in action:

char character = 'C';
byte[] asciiBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(character.ToString());
byte asciiValue = asciiBytes[0];
Console.WriteLine($"Character: {character}, ASCII Value: {asciiValue}");

Output:

Character: C, ASCII Value: 67

This method declares a character variable character with the value 'C'. To use the Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes() method, we need to convert the character to a string first, as it accepts strings as input. The method returns an array of bytes, and since we know there will be only one element for a single character, we extract the ASCII value from the first element and display it.

Conclusion:

In this blog, we have explored several methods for converting characters to ASCII values in C#. We started with the straightforward Convert.ToByte() method and then demonstrated typecasting as an alternative approach. Additionally, we covered the usage of Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes() to convert characters to ASCII bytes and extract the ASCII value. Moreover, we discussed the possibility of custom mapping for specific scenarios.