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Cannot assign 128 to byte, why does it error out instead of overflowing?

Bytes in Java range from -128 to 127. If over 127 they overflow. So I assigned 128 to a byte variable to know how overflow work, but the compiler shows a error message: "Type mismatch: cannot convert from int to byte".
Why do I get a compiler error instead of it overflowing?

javac will let you assign values within range to bytes. When you go out of range, the value needs to be explicitly cast.
byte b = (byte)128;
Would work with the compiler. To see overflow you might try
byte b = 127;
b += 1;
System.out.println(b);
-128
The nuts and bolts can be found in the JLS. Java will do arithmetic as int, or long.
byte a = 1;
byte b = 2;
//byte c = a + b; //fails because the operation is performed as an int.
byte c = (byte)(a + b);

A byte is an 8-bit signed integer value that can hold values between -128 and 127.
You can cast 128 into a byte 'byte b = (byte)128;', but then b will just equal -128 because of how twos-complement numbers work.

Integer constants like 1, -32, 128, or 7654321 have int type in Java. Assigning an int value to a byte variable is simply not allowed. This is why you get the error cannot convert from int to byte. To get around it, you have to convert the int value to byte with a type cast, b=(byte)128.
The real question should be, why do you not get an error for this code?
byte b = 100; // !!!! ASSIGNING int TO byte !!!!
You don't get an error here because of this a special "assignment conversion" rule that only applies for compile time constant expressions:
A narrowing primitive conversion may be used if the type of the variable is byte, short, or char, and the value of the constant expression is representable in the type of the variable.

Type
byte B = (byte)128;
instead of byte B = 128;

Convert from hex to int and vice versa in java

I have next method for converting to int from hex:
public static byte[] convertsHexStringToByteArray2(String hexString) {
int hexLength = hexString.length() / 2;
byte[] bytes = new byte[hexLength];
for (int i = 0; i < hexLength; i++) {
int hex = Integer.parseInt(hexString.substring(2 * i, 2 * i + 2), 16);
bytes[i] = (byte) hex;
}
return bytes;
}
when I use it for "80" hex string I get strange, not expected result:
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(convertsHexStringToByteArray2("80"))); // gives -128
System.out.println(Integer.toHexString(-128));
System.out.println(Integer.toHexString(128));
}
the output:
[-128]
ffffff80
80
I expect that "80" will be 128. What is wrong with my method?

I have next method for converting to int from hex
The method you posted converts a hex String to a byte array, and not to an int. That's why it is messing with its sign.
Converting from hex to int is easy:
Integer.parseInt("80", 16)
$1 ==> 128
But if you want to get a byte array for further processing by just casting:
(byte) Integer.parseInt("80", 16)
$2 ==> -128
It "changes" its sign. For further information on primitives and signed variable types take a look at Primitive Data Types, where it says:
The byte data type is an 8-bit signed two's complement integer. It has a minimum value of -128 and a maximum value of 127 (inclusive). The byte data type can be useful for saving memory in large arrays, where the memory savings actually matters. They can also be used in place of int where their limits help to clarify your code; the fact that a variable's range is limited can serve as a form of documentation.
One could easily invert the sign by just increasing the value to convert:
(byte) Integer.parseInt("80", 16) & 0xFF
$3 ==> 128
That gets you a byte with the value you expect. Technically that result isn't correct and you must to switch the sign again, if you want to get an int or a hex string back again. I'd suggest you to don't use a byte array if you only want to convert between hex and dec.

A byte in Java stores numbers from -128 to 127. 80 in hex is 128 as an integer, which is too large to be stored in a byte. So, the value wraps around. Use a different type to store your value (such as a short).

Byte typecasting in java

the program gives me loss of precision error but i cant think of any precision loss since numbers are small
This is the code ##
class Demo
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
byte b1=3;
byte b2=2;
byte b3=b1+b2;
System.out.println(b3);
}
}

The addition expression b1 + b2 is of type int - there aren't any addition operators defined on smaller types than int. So in order to convert that back to a byte, you have to cast:
byte b3 = (byte) (b1 + b2);
Note that although you happen to know that the values are small, the compiler doesn't care about the values you've set in the previous two lines - they could both be 100 for all it knows. Likewise although you know that the int you're trying to assign to a byte variable is only the result of adding two byte values together (or rather, two values promoted from byte to int), the expression as a whole is just int and could have come from anywhere as far as the language is concerned.
(The fact that the addition can overflow is a separate matter, but that would be an inconsistent argument - after all, you can add two int values together and store the result in an int variable, even though the addition could have overflowed easily.)

Because 127 is the last value of byte.
Assume b1 = 127 and b2 = 2
now what happends b = b1+b2 = 129 [which is out of byte range, i.e. it's in int range]
now if you cast it b = (byte)(b1+b2), you will get -127 this is due to rounding of the value to byte.

byte b1=3;
byte b2=2;
byte b3=b1+b2; // you can't use byte here, Every time addition will result
int value
Because, If you trying to cast an int which is larger than byte range, there is a loss part of that value. So addition will not allow to use byte here.

when ever you do +,-,*,/,%
java internally uses a function
ex: max(int,dataType of operand 1,dataType of operand 2);
here in your code
max(int, byte,byte) ==> which one is bigger ? ==> int is bigger
so you may get POSSIBLE LOSS OF PRESSION
found :int
required : byte
Another Example
short a =10;
byte b=20;
short c = a+b;
now:
internally: max(int,OP1,OP2);
ie max(int,short,byte) ==> which is bigger Data Type? int
so java excepts int
int c = a+b; (works fine)
Another Example :
long a =10;
byte b=20;
short c = a+b;
now:
internally: max(int,OP1,OP2);
ie max(int,long,byte) ==> which is bigger Data Type? long
so java excepts long
long c = a+b;(works fine)
Another Example:
byte b = 10;
b = b+1;
now,
max(int,byte)==> which is bigger Data Type ? int
so,
int c = b+1;(works fine) or b = (byte) b+1;
hope you understand

How to Convert Int to Unsigned Byte and Back

I need to convert a number into an unsigned byte. The number is always less than or equal to 255, and so it will fit in one byte.
I also need to convert that byte back into that number. How would I do that in Java? I've tried several ways and none work. Here's what I'm trying to do now:
int size = 5;
// Convert size int to binary
String sizeStr = Integer.toString(size);
byte binaryByte = Byte.valueOf(sizeStr);
and now to convert that byte back into the number:
Byte test = new Byte(binaryByte);
int msgSize = test.intValue();
Clearly, this does not work. For some reason, it always converts the number into 65. Any suggestions?

A byte is always signed in Java. You may get its unsigned value by binary-anding it with 0xFF, though:
int i = 234;
byte b = (byte) i;
System.out.println(b); // -22
int i2 = b & 0xFF;
System.out.println(i2); // 234

Java 8 provides Byte.toUnsignedInt to convert byte to int by unsigned conversion. In Oracle's JDK this is simply implemented as return ((int) x) & 0xff; because HotSpot already understands how to optimize this pattern, but it could be intrinsified on other VMs. More importantly, no prior knowledge is needed to understand what a call to toUnsignedInt(foo) does.
In total, Java 8 provides methods to convert byte and short to unsigned int and long, and int to unsigned long. A method to convert byte to unsigned short was deliberately omitted because the JVM only provides arithmetic on int and long anyway.
To convert an int back to a byte, just use a cast: (byte)someInt. The resulting narrowing primitive conversion will discard all but the last 8 bits.

If you just need to convert an expected 8-bit value from a signed int to an unsigned value, you can use simple bit shifting:
int signed = -119; // 11111111 11111111 11111111 10001001
/**
* Use unsigned right shift operator to drop unset bits in positions 8-31
*/
int psuedoUnsigned = (signed << 24) >>> 24; // 00000000 00000000 00000000 10001001 -> 137 base 10
/**
* Convert back to signed by using the sign-extension properties of the right shift operator
*/
int backToSigned = (psuedoUnsigned << 24) >> 24; // back to original bit pattern
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/op3.html
If using something other than int as the base type, you'll obviously need to adjust the shift amount: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/datatypes.html
Also, bear in mind that you can't use byte type, doing so will result in a signed value as mentioned by other answerers. The smallest primitive type you could use to represent an 8-bit unsigned value would be a short.

Except char, every other numerical data type in Java are signed.
As said in a previous answer, you can get the unsigned value by performing an and operation with 0xFF. In this answer, I'm going to explain how it happens.
int i = 234;
byte b = (byte) i;
System.out.println(b); // -22
int i2 = b & 0xFF;
// This is like casting b to int and perform and operation with 0xFF
System.out.println(i2); // 234
If your machine is 32-bit, then the int data type needs 32-bits to store values. byte needs only 8-bits.
The int variable i is represented in the memory as follows (as a 32-bit integer).
0{24}11101010
Then the byte variable b is represented as:
11101010
As bytes are signed, this value represent -22. (Search for 2's complement to learn more about how to represent negative integers in memory)
Then if you cast is to int it will still be -22 because casting preserves the sign of a number.
1{24}11101010
The the casted 32-bit value of b perform and operation with 0xFF.
1{24}11101010 & 0{24}11111111
=0{24}11101010
Then you get 234 as the answer.

The solution works fine (thanks!), but if you want to avoid casting and leave the low level work to the JDK, you can use a DataOutputStream to write your int's and a DataInputStream to read them back in. They are automatically treated as unsigned bytes then:
For converting int's to binary bytes;
ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
DataOutputStream dos = new DataOutputStream(bos);
int val = 250;
dos.write(byteVal);
...
dos.flush();
Reading them back in:
// important to use a (non-Unicode!) encoding like US_ASCII or ISO-8859-1,
// i.e., one that uses one byte per character
ByteArrayInputStream bis = new ByteArrayInputStream(
bos.toString("ISO-8859-1").getBytes("ISO-8859-1"));
DataInputStream dis = new DataInputStream(bis);
int byteVal = dis.readUnsignedByte();
Esp. useful for handling binary data formats (e.g. flat message formats, etc.)

The Integer.toString(size) call converts into the char representation of your integer, i.e. the char '5'. The ASCII representation of that character is the value 65.
You need to parse the string back to an integer value first, e.g. by using Integer.parseInt, to get back the original int value.
As a bottom line, for a signed/unsigned conversion, it is best to leave String out of the picture and use bit manipulation as #JB suggests.

Even though it's too late, I'd like to give my input on this as it might clarify why the solution given by JB Nizet works. I stumbled upon this little problem working on a byte parser and to string conversion myself.
When you copy from a bigger size integral type to a smaller size integral type as this java doc says this happens:
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-5.html#jls-5.1.3
A narrowing conversion of a signed integer to an integral type T simply discards all but the n lowest order bits, where n is the number of bits used to represent type T. In addition to a possible loss of information about the magnitude of the numeric value, this may cause the sign of the resulting value to differ from the sign of the input value.
You can be sure that a byte is an integral type as this java doc says
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/datatypes.html
byte: The byte data type is an 8-bit signed two's complement integer.
So in the case of casting an integer(32 bits) to a byte(8 bits), you just copy the last (least significant 8 bits) of that integer to the given byte variable.
int a = 128;
byte b = (byte)a; // Last 8 bits gets copied
System.out.println(b); // -128
Second part of the story involves how Java unary and binary operators promote operands.
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-5.html#jls-5.6.2
Widening primitive conversion (§5.1.2) is applied to convert either or both operands as specified by the following rules:
If either operand is of type double, the other is converted to double.
Otherwise, if either operand is of type float, the other is converted to float.
Otherwise, if either operand is of type long, the other is converted to long.
Otherwise, both operands are converted to type int.
Rest assured, if you are working with integral type int and/or lower it'll be promoted to an int.
// byte b(0x80) gets promoted to int (0xFF80) by the & operator and then
// 0xFF80 & 0xFF (0xFF translates to 0x00FF) bitwise operation yields
// 0x0080
a = b & 0xFF;
System.out.println(a); // 128
I scratched my head around this too :). There is a good answer for this here by rgettman.
Bitwise operators in java only for integer and long?

If you want to use the primitive wrapper classes, this will work, but all java types are signed by default.
public static void main(String[] args) {
Integer i=5;
Byte b = Byte.valueOf(i+""); //converts i to String and calls Byte.valueOf()
System.out.println(b);
System.out.println(Integer.valueOf(b));
}

In terms of readability, I favor Guava's:
UnsignedBytes.checkedCast(long) to convert a signed number to an unsigned byte.
UnsignedBytes.toInt(byte) to convert an unsigned byte to a signed int.

Handling bytes and unsigned integers with BigInteger:
byte[] b = ... // your integer in big-endian
BigInteger ui = new BigInteger(b) // let BigInteger do the work
int i = ui.intValue() // unsigned value assigned to i

in java 7
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
byte b = -2;
int i = 0 ;
i = ( b & 0b1111_1111 ) ;
System.err.println(i);
}
}
result : 254

I have tested it and understood it.
In Java, the byte is signed, so 234 in one signed byte is -22, in binary, it is "11101010", signed bit has a "1", so with negative's presentation 2's complement, it becomes -22.
And operate with 0xFF, cast 234 to 2 byte signed(32 bit), keep all bit unchanged.
I use String to solve this:
int a = 14206;
byte[] b = String.valueOf(a).getBytes();
String c = new String(b);
System.out.println(Integer.valueOf(c));
and output is 14206.

How are integers cast to bytes in Java?

I know Java doesn't allow unsigned types, so I was wondering how it casts an integer to a byte. Say I have an integer a with a value of 255 and I cast the integer to a byte. Is the value represented in the byte 11111111? In other words, is the value treated more as a signed 8 bit integer, or does it just directly copy the last 8 bits of the integer?

This is called a narrowing primitive conversion. According to the spec:
A narrowing conversion of a signed integer to an integral type T simply discards all but the n lowest order bits, where n is the number of bits used to represent type T. In addition to a possible loss of information about the magnitude of the numeric value, this may cause the sign of the resulting value to differ from the sign of the input value.
So it's the second option you listed (directly copying the last 8 bits).
I am unsure from your question whether or not you are aware of how signed integral values are represented, so just to be safe I'll point out that the byte value 1111 1111 is equal to -1 in the two's complement system (which Java uses).

int i = 255;
byte b = (byte)i;
So the value of be in hex is 0xFF but the decimal value will be -1.
int i = 0xff00;
byte b = (byte)i;
The value of b now is 0x00. This shows that java takes the last byte of the integer. ie. the last 8 bits but this is signed.

or does it just directly copy the last
8 bits of the integer
yes, this is the way this casting works

The following fragment casts an int to a byte. If the integer’s value is larger than the range of a byte, it will be reduced modulo (the remainder of an integer division by the) byte’s range.
int a;
byte b;
// …
b = (byte) a;

Just a thought on what is said: Always mask your integer when converting to bytes with 0xFF (for ints). (Assuming myInt was assigned values from 0 to 255).
e.g.
char myByte = (char)(myInt & 0xFF);
why? if myInt is bigger than 255, just typecasting to byte returns a negative value (2's complement) which you don't want.

Byte is 8 bit. 8 bit can represent 256 numbers.(2 raise to 8=256)
Now first bit is used for sign. [if positive then first bit=0, if negative first bit= 1]
let's say you want to convert integer 1099 to byte. just devide 1099 by 256. remainder is your byte representation of int
examples
1099/256 => remainder= 75
-1099/256 =>remainder=-75
2049/256 => remainder= 1
reason why? look at this image http://i.stack.imgur.com/FYwqr.png

According to my understanding, you meant
Integer i=new Integer(2);
byte b=i; //will not work
final int i=2;
byte b=i; //fine
At last
Byte b=new Byte(2);
int a=b; //fine

for (int i=0; i <= 255; i++) {
byte b = (byte) i; // cast int values 0 to 255 to corresponding byte values
int neg = b; // neg will take on values 0..127, -128, -127, ..., -1
int pos = (int) (b & 0xFF); // pos will take on values 0..255
}
The conversion of a byte that contains a value bigger than 127 (i.e,. values 0x80 through 0xFF) to an int results in sign extension of the high-order bit of the byte value (i.e., bit 0x80). To remove the 'extra' one bits, use x & 0xFF; this forces bits higher than 0x80 (i.e., bits 0x100, 0x200, 0x400, ...) to zero but leaves the lower 8 bits as is.
You can also write these; they are all equivalent:
int pos = ((int) b) & 0xFF; // convert b to int first, then strip high bits
int pos = b & 0xFF; // done as int arithmetic -- the cast is not needed
Java automatically 'promotes' integer types whose size (in # of bits) is smaller than int to an int value when doing arithmetic. This is done to provide a more deterministic result (than say C, which is less constrained in its specification).
You may want to have a look at this question on casting a 'short'.