How can I convert a C# byte array into a binary string to be pasted in a SQL script?

Question

Just to be clear, I'm NOT trying to insert into SQL Server directly from C#.

I'd like to convert a C# byte array into a binary string so that I can paste it into a SQL Script like the following:

insert into Files (FileId, FileData) values (1, 0x010203040506)

How can I do this?

The value in your `INSERT` statement is hexadecimal, not binary. — Lance U. Matthews, Feb 09 '19 at 23:58
@BACON, Thanks, I was using the terminology I read in this post: https://stackoverflow.com/a/1120749/64279 — adam0101, Feb 10 '19 at 04:46

Phil Ross · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-09T23:59:40.037

2

Binary constants in SQL Server 'have the prefix 0x and are a string of hexadecimal numbers'.

You can convert each byte to hexadecimal using the "x2" format string and combine the result with String.Join():

var bytes = new byte[] {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6};
var binaryString = "0x" + string.Join("", bytes.Select(b => b.ToString("x2")));

edited Feb 09 '19 at 23:59

answered Feb 09 '19 at 23:53

Phil Ross

1 Answers1