Develop Reference

How to convert byte[] to String in Java?

There are some SO quetions but no helped me. I would like to convert byte[] from org.apache.commons.codec.digest.HmacUtils to String. This code produces some weird output:
final String value = "value";
final String key = "key";
byte[] bytes = HmacUtils.hmacSha1(key, value);
String s = new String(bytes);
What am I doing wrong?

Try to use:
String st = HmacUtils.hmacSha1Hex(key, value);

First, the result of hmacSha1 would produce a digest, not not a clear String. Besides, you may have to specify an encoding format, for example
String s = new String(bytes, "US-ASCII");
or
String s = new String(bytes, "UTF-8");

For a more general solution, if you don't have HmacUtils available:
// Prepare a buffer for the string
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(bytes.length*2);
// Iterate through all bytes in the array
for(byte b : bytes) {
// Convert them into a hex string
builder.append(String.format("%02x",b));
// builder.append(String.format("%02x",b).toUpperCase()); // for upper case characters
}
// Done
String s = builder.toString();
To explain your problem:
You are using a hash function. So a hash is usually an array of bytes which should look quite random.
If you use new String(bytes) you try to create a string from these bytes. But Java will try to convert the bytes to characters.
For example: The byte 65 (hex 0x41) becomes the letter 'A'. 66 (hex 0x42) the letter 'B' and so on. Some numbers can't be converted into readable characters. Thats why you see strange characters like '�'.
So new String(new byte[]{0x41, 0x42, 0x43}) will become 'ABC'.
You want something else: You want each byte converted into a 2 digit hex String (and append these strings).
Greetings!

You may need to have an encoding format. Check out this link here.
UTF-8 byte[] to String

android.util.Base64 encoded String too short

I am using android.util.Base64 and want to encode a bitmap to a base64-string, but it is always too short. For instance an online tool says, it has an invalid length and compared to an valid one it is surely too short.
This is my code:
ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 100, baos);
byte[] b = baos.toByteArray();
String encodedImage = Base64.encodeToString(b, Base64.DEFAULT);
Here is an example of the different length of the strings:
My string
valid string

Your code looks fine but you can verify it by using this code:
byte[] b2 = Base64.decode(encodedImage, Base64.DEFAULT);
boolean equals = Arrays.equals(b, b2);
If the two arrays have equal contents then the problem is not on the Base64 but in the way that you're using the encodedImage string. Remember that things like LogCat might truncate strings that exceed a certain length, so make sure that you print out the length of the encodedImage string and compare it to the Base64 you've got.
Also, Base64 encoded strings are 4/3 (133%) longer than the original, so if the ByteArrayOutputStream has length 9000, your base64 string is expected to have length 12000.

byte[] to String {100,25,28,-122,-26,94,-3,-26}

How can I convert this byte[] to String :
byte[] mytest = new byte[] {100,25,28,-122,-26,94,-3,-26};
i get this : "d��^�" when I use :
new String( mytest , "UTF-8" )
Here is code java for creation of key :
m_key = new javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec(new byte[] {100,25,28,-122,-26,94,-3,-26}, "DES");
Thanks.

In order to decode the byte array into something like ASCII, you need to know its original encoding. Otherwise you would need to treat it as binary.
Note: Base64 is intended for transferring binary data across networks.
I would suggest Base64 encoding your byte array. Then in your PHP code decoding the Base64 string back into a UTF-8 string.
In Java, here's how to Base64 encode your byte array and then decode it back to UTF-8:
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
public class MyTest {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
byte[] byteArray = new byte[] {100,25,28,-122,-26,94,-3,-26};
System.out.println("To UTF-8 string: " + new String(byteArray, "UTF-8"));
byte[] base64 = Base64.encodeBase64(byteArray);
System.out.println("To Base64 string: " + new String(base64, "UTF-8"));
byte[] decoded = Base64.decodeBase64(base64);
System.out.println("Back to UTF-8 string: " + new String(decoded, "UTF-8"));
/* the decoded byte array is the same as the original byte array */
for (int i = 0; i < decoded.length; i++) {
assert byteArray[i] == decoded[i];
}
}
}
The output from the above code is:
To UTF-8 string: d��^�
To Base64 string: ZBkchuZe/eY=
Back to UTF-8 string: d��^�
So if you wanted to use the same binary data in your PHP code, cut and paste the Base64 string into your PHP code and decode it back to UTF-8. Something like this:
<?php
$str = 'ZBkchuZe/eY=';
$key = base64_decode($str);
echo $key;
?>
I don't code in PHP, but you should be able to decode Base64 using this method:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.base64-decode.php
The above code should echo back the original binary data as UTF-8 (albeit with funny characters). The point is that the funny-looking string in the $key variable is representing the same binary data you had in the Java byte array:
d��^�
You should be able to pass the $key variable into your PHP encryption method.

with the way you are doing it makes no sense imo. you are creating a new string with the byte[] as an argument. i dont think that function is suppose to parse. so what you end up with is a lot of junk. but a little bit of googling got me this: http://www.mkyong.com/java/how-do-convert-byte-array-to-string-in-java/

Would m_key.getEncoded() give you the desired result.
Javadocs - SecretKeySpec
If not, you have to identify the Key provider that was used for the encoding (which resulted in the byte array that you have now) and decode.

byte to string and vice versa

I need to convert a salt value randomly generated and store it in the database. To store it in the database I converted it to a string. Then for retrieving the original value, I convert it back to byte. But both value are not matching. I have tried "UTF-8","UTF-16", BASE64Encoder.
SecureRandom ranGen = new SecureRandom();
byte[] aesKey = new byte[16]; // 16 bytes = 128 bits
ranGen.nextBytes(aesKey);
System.out.println(aesKey);
String a=new String(aesKey,"UTF-16");
byte[] b=new byte[16];
b=a.getBytes("UTF-16");
System.out.println(b);
Outputs for the above code(Executed it 2 times):
[B#11563ff
[B#1581593
and
[B#170888e
[B#11563ff

You really ought to use Base64 for converting binary data to Strings. There are lots of free implementations available, for example the one found in Apache Commons Codec.
Also, it's really easy to use, for example:
For encoding:
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
...
byte[] abValue = {...}; // Your data to encode
Base64 base64 = new Base64();
String strEncodedData = base64.encodeToString(abValue).trim();
For decoding:
import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
...
String strEncodedData = "..."; // Your previously encoded data
Base64 base64 = new Base64();
byte[] abValue = base64.decode(strValue);

As your code is written above, printing aesKey and then b, what you are actually printing is the output of the toString method for an array object, which is just the default Object toString method. So I don't see how you can expect them to be the same.
If you really want to check they are the same you should compare them byte by byte.
In terms of your actual question regarding storing a byte[] as a String in the DB, your best bet is to Base64 encode it. I would suggest using the Apache Commons Codec library for this. See the user guide.
EDIT:
Using the BASE64Encode and BASE64Decoder you have referred to, the code would be like this:
SecureRandom ranGen = new SecureRandom();
byte[] aesKey = new byte[16]; // 16 bytes = 128 bits
ranGen.nextBytes(aesKey);
String a = new BASE64Encoder().encode(aesKey);
System.out.println(a);
byte[] b = new BASE64Decoder().decodeBuffer(a);
System.out.println(new BASE64Encoder().encode(b));
for (int i = 0; i < aesKey.length; i++) {
System.out.println(aesKey[i] + " " + b[i]);
}
Here, I have also looped through the bytes individually, to show that they are indeed equal.

Converting from Windows 1252 to UTF8 in Java: null characters with CharsetDecoder/Encoder

I know it's a very general question but I'm becoming mad.
I used this code:
String ucs2Content = new String(bufferToConvert, inputEncoding);
byte[] outputBuf = ucs2Content.getBytes(outputEncoding);
return outputBuf;
But I read that is better to use CharsetDecoder and CharsetEncoder (I have contents with some character probably outside the destination encoding). I've just written this code but that has some problems:
// Create the encoder and decoder for Win1252
Charset charsetInput = Charset.forName(inputEncoding);
CharsetDecoder decoder = charsetInput.newDecoder();
Charset charsetOutput = Charset.forName(outputEncoding);
CharsetEncoder encoder = charsetOutput.newEncoder();
// Convert the byte array from starting inputEncoding into UCS2
CharBuffer cbuf = decoder.decode(ByteBuffer.wrap(bufferToConvert));
// Convert the internal UCS2 representation into outputEncoding
ByteBuffer bbuf = encoder.encode(CharBuffer.wrap(cbuf));
return bbuf.array();
Indeed this code appends to the buffer a sequence of null character!!!!!
Could someone tell me where is the problem? I'm not so skilled with encoding conversion in Java.
Is there a better way to convert encoding in Java?

Your problem is that ByteBuffer.array() returns a direct reference to the array used as backing store for the ByteBuffer and not a copy of the backing array's valid range. You have to obey bbuf.limit() (as Peter did in his response) and just use the array content from index 0 to bbuf.limit()-1.
The reason for the extra 0 values in the backing array is a slight flaw in how the resulting ByteBuffer is created by the CharsetEncoder. Each CharsetEncoder has an "average bytes per character", which for the UCS2 encoder seem to be simple and correct (2 bytes/char). Obeying this fixed value, the CharsetEncoder initially allocates a ByteBuffer with "string length * average bytes per character" bytes, in this case e.g. 20 bytes for a 10 character long string. The UCS2 CharsetEncoder starts however with a BOM (byte order mark), which also occupies 2 bytes, so that only 9 of the 10 characters fit in the allocated ByteBuffer. The CharsetEncoder detects the overflow and allocates a new ByteBuffer with a length of 2*n+1 (n being the original length of the ByteBuffer), in this case 2*20+1 = 41 bytes. Since only 2 of the 21 new bytes are required to encode the remaining character, the array you get from bbuf.array() will have a length of 41 bytes, but bbuf.limit() will indicate that only the first 22 entries are actually used.

I am not sure how you get a sequence of null characters. Try this
String outputEncoding = "UTF-8";
Charset charsetOutput = Charset.forName(outputEncoding);
CharsetEncoder encoder = charsetOutput.newEncoder();
// Convert the byte array from starting inputEncoding into UCS2
byte[] bufferToConvert = "Hello World! £€".getBytes();
CharBuffer cbuf = decoder.decode(ByteBuffer.wrap(bufferToConvert));
// Convert the internal UCS2 representation into outputEncoding
ByteBuffer bbuf = encoder.encode(CharBuffer.wrap(cbuf));
System.out.println(new String(bbuf.array(), 0, bbuf.limit(), charsetOutput));
prints
Hello World! £€