How to convert an hex string to an array of bytes?

Question

How to convert the char array to Byte array? I tried every method but it doesn't work.

char CardNumber[8] = "B763AB23"; // Length is 8, basically it's in Hex
                                 // B7 63 AB 23

I need to convert it into Byte array to byte CardNumberByte[4]; So basically, it should be like :

CardNumberByte[0] = B7;
CardNumberByte[1] = 63;
CardNumberByte[2] = AB;
CardNumberByte[3] = 23;

I am unable to find any solution for that.

Answer 1

There are indeed many methods (and they all work if done right).

Is it always a lenght of 8 ? That means it is 32-bit unsigned long number. The strtoul can convert it to a long. Use '16' for the base. If you need the seperate numbers, you can shift the unsigned long and convert to bytes or use a union.

It is also possible to do with a for statement can convert each character of the input to a value: forum.arduino.cc: convert HEX (ASCII) to a DEC int

[ADDED]
Thank you @goddland_16 for providing a full sketch. I could not stay behind and wrote a sketch with strtoul.

char *CardNumber = "B763AB23";
byte CardNumberByte[4];

void setup() 
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println("With strtoul");

  // Use 'nullptr' or 'NULL' for the second parameter.
  unsigned long number = strtoul( CardNumber, nullptr, 16);

  for(int i=3; i>=0; i--)    // start with lowest byte of number
  {
    CardNumberByte[i] = number & 0xFF;  // or: = byte( number);
    number >>= 8;            // get next byte into position
  }

  for(int i=0; i<4; i++)
  {
    Serial.print("0x");
    Serial.println(CardNumberByte[i], HEX);
  }
}

void loop() 
{
}

Answer 2

Here is a simple solution to your question. I took each character, checked against its hexadecimal character and returned as a combination.

char CardNumber[] = "B763AB23";
byte CardNumberByte[4];

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  for(char i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
  byte extract;
  char a = CardNumber[2*i];
  char b = CardNumber[2*i + 1];
  extract = convertCharToHex(a)<<4 | convertCharToHex(b);
  CardNumberByte[i] = extract;
  Serial.println(CardNumberByte[i], HEX);
}

  while(1);
}



char convertCharToHex(char ch)
{
  char returnType;
  switch(ch)
  {
    case '0':
    returnType = 0;
    break;
    case  '1' :
    returnType = 1;
    break;
    case  '2':
    returnType = 2;
    break;
    case  '3':
    returnType = 3;
    break;
    case  '4' :
    returnType = 4;
    break;
    case  '5':
    returnType = 5;
    break;
    case  '6':
    returnType = 6;
    break;
    case  '7':
    returnType = 7;
    break;
    case  '8':
    returnType = 8;
    break;
    case  '9':
    returnType = 9;
    break;
    case  'A':
    returnType = 10;
    break;
    case  'B':
    returnType = 11;
    break;
    case  'C':
    returnType = 12;
    break;
    case  'D':
    returnType = 13;
    break;
    case  'E':
    returnType = 14;
    break;
    case  'F' :
    returnType = 15;
    break;
    default:
    returnType = 0;
    break;
  }
  return returnType;
}

Answer 3

A char array is a byte arrray. No difference whatsoever

What you are attempting to do is a conversion of hex string to byte. For that you have to determine if you are scanning left to right or right to left.

After that convert a char in the string to a half byte.

From there you shift the half byte left and or it with the next half byte until the whole string has been exhausted.