How to convert transliterate a string from utf8 to ASCII single byte in c

Question

I have a string object    with multiple characters and even special characters   I am trying to use   UTF8Encoding utf8   new UTF8Encoding    ASCIIEncoding ascii   new ASCIIEncoding      objects in order to convert that string to ascii  May I ask someone to bring some light to this simple task  that is hunting my afternoon   EDIT 1  What we are trying to accomplish is getting rid of special characters like some of the special windows apostrophes   The code that I posted below as an answer will not take care of that   Basically      O Brian will become O Brian   where   is one of the special apostrophes

User · Answer

If you want 8 bit representation of characters that used in many encoding, this may help you.

You must change variable targetEncoding to whatever encoding you want.

Encoding targetEncoding = Encoding.GetEncoding(874); // Your target encoding
Encoding utf8 = Encoding.UTF8;

var stringBytes = utf8.GetBytes(Name);
var stringTargetBytes = Encoding.Convert(utf8, targetEncoding, stringBytes);
var ascii8BitRepresentAsCsString = Encoding.GetEncoding("Latin1").GetString(stringTargetBytes);

User · Answer

For anyone who likes Extension methods  this one does the trick for us   using System Text   namespace System       public static class StringExtension               private static readonly ASCIIEncoding asciiEncoding   new ASCIIEncoding             public static string ToAscii this string dirty                        byte   bytes   asciiEncoding GetBytes dirty               string clean   asciiEncoding GetString bytes               return clean                       System namespace so it s available pretty much automatically for all of our strings

User · Answer

I was able to figure it out   In case someone wants to know below the code that worked for me   ASCIIEncoding ascii   new ASCIIEncoding    byte   byteArray   Encoding UTF8 GetBytes sOriginal   byte   asciiArray   Encoding Convert Encoding UTF8  Encoding ASCII  byteArray   string finalString   ascii GetString asciiArray     Let me know if there is a simpler way o doing it

User · Answer

This was in response to your other question  that looks like it s been deleted    the point still stands   Looks like a classic Unicode to ASCII issue  The trick would be to find where it s happening    NET works fine with Unicode  assuming it s told it s Unicode to begin with  or left at the default     My guess is that your receiving app can t handle it  So  I d probably use the ASCIIEncoder with an EncoderReplacementFallback with String Empty   using System Text   string inputString   GetInput    var encoder   ASCIIEncoding GetEncoder    encoder Fallback   new EncoderReplacementFallback string Empty    byte   bAsciiString   encoder GetBytes inputString       Do something with bytes       can write to a file as is File WriteAllBytes FILE NAME  bAsciiString      or turn back into a  clean  string string cleanString   ASCIIEncoding GetString bAsciiString       since the offending bytes have been removed  can use default encoding as well Assert AreEqual cleanString  Default GetString bAsciiString      Of course  in the old days  we d just loop though and remove any chars greater than 127   well  those of us in the US at least

User · Answer

I was able to figure it out   In case someone wants to know below the code that worked for me   ASCIIEncoding ascii   new ASCIIEncoding    byte   byteArray   Encoding UTF8 GetBytes sOriginal   byte   asciiArray   Encoding Convert Encoding UTF8  Encoding ASCII  byteArray   string finalString   ascii GetString asciiArray     Let me know if there is a simpler way o doing it

User · Answer

I was able to figure it out   In case someone wants to know below the code that worked for me   ASCIIEncoding ascii   new ASCIIEncoding    byte   byteArray   Encoding UTF8 GetBytes sOriginal   byte   asciiArray   Encoding Convert Encoding UTF8  Encoding ASCII  byteArray   string finalString   ascii GetString asciiArray     Let me know if there is a simpler way o doing it

User · Answer

Based on Mark s answer above  and Geo s comment   I created a two liner version to remove all ASCII exception cases from a string   Provided for people searching for this answer  as I did    using System Text      Create encoder with a replacing encoder fallback var encoder   ASCIIEncoding GetEncoding  us-ascii        new EncoderReplacementFallback string Empty        new DecoderExceptionFallback      string cleanString   encoder GetString encoder GetBytes dirtyString

User · Answer

This was in response to your other question  that looks like it s been deleted    the point still stands   Looks like a classic Unicode to ASCII issue  The trick would be to find where it s happening    NET works fine with Unicode  assuming it s told it s Unicode to begin with  or left at the default     My guess is that your receiving app can t handle it  So  I d probably use the ASCIIEncoder with an EncoderReplacementFallback with String Empty   using System Text   string inputString   GetInput    var encoder   ASCIIEncoding GetEncoder    encoder Fallback   new EncoderReplacementFallback string Empty    byte   bAsciiString   encoder GetBytes inputString       Do something with bytes       can write to a file as is File WriteAllBytes FILE NAME  bAsciiString      or turn back into a  clean  string string cleanString   ASCIIEncoding GetString bAsciiString       since the offending bytes have been removed  can use default encoding as well Assert AreEqual cleanString  Default GetString bAsciiString      Of course  in the old days  we d just loop though and remove any chars greater than 127   well  those of us in the US at least

User · Answer

For anyone who likes Extension methods  this one does the trick for us   using System Text   namespace System       public static class StringExtension               private static readonly ASCIIEncoding asciiEncoding   new ASCIIEncoding             public static string ToAscii this string dirty                        byte   bytes   asciiEncoding GetBytes dirty               string clean   asciiEncoding GetString bytes               return clean                       System namespace so it s available pretty much automatically for all of our strings

User · Answer

Based on Mark s answer above  and Geo s comment   I created a two liner version to remove all ASCII exception cases from a string   Provided for people searching for this answer  as I did    using System Text      Create encoder with a replacing encoder fallback var encoder   ASCIIEncoding GetEncoding  us-ascii        new EncoderReplacementFallback string Empty        new DecoderExceptionFallback      string cleanString   encoder GetString encoder GetBytes dirtyString

User · Answer

This was in response to your other question  that looks like it s been deleted    the point still stands   Looks like a classic Unicode to ASCII issue  The trick would be to find where it s happening    NET works fine with Unicode  assuming it s told it s Unicode to begin with  or left at the default     My guess is that your receiving app can t handle it  So  I d probably use the ASCIIEncoder with an EncoderReplacementFallback with String Empty   using System Text   string inputString   GetInput    var encoder   ASCIIEncoding GetEncoder    encoder Fallback   new EncoderReplacementFallback string Empty    byte   bAsciiString   encoder GetBytes inputString       Do something with bytes       can write to a file as is File WriteAllBytes FILE NAME  bAsciiString      or turn back into a  clean  string string cleanString   ASCIIEncoding GetString bAsciiString       since the offending bytes have been removed  can use default encoding as well Assert AreEqual cleanString  Default GetString bAsciiString      Of course  in the old days  we d just loop though and remove any chars greater than 127   well  those of us in the US at least

User · Answer

If you want 8 bit representation of characters that used in many encoding, this may help you.

You must change variable targetEncoding to whatever encoding you want.

Encoding targetEncoding = Encoding.GetEncoding(874); // Your target encoding
Encoding utf8 = Encoding.UTF8;

var stringBytes = utf8.GetBytes(Name);
var stringTargetBytes = Encoding.Convert(utf8, targetEncoding, stringBytes);
var ascii8BitRepresentAsCsString = Encoding.GetEncoding("Latin1").GetString(stringTargetBytes);

User · Answer

I was able to figure it out   In case someone wants to know below the code that worked for me   ASCIIEncoding ascii   new ASCIIEncoding    byte   byteArray   Encoding UTF8 GetBytes sOriginal   byte   asciiArray   Encoding Convert Encoding UTF8  Encoding ASCII  byteArray   string finalString   ascii GetString asciiArray     Let me know if there is a simpler way o doing it

User · Answer

This was in response to your other question  that looks like it s been deleted    the point still stands   Looks like a classic Unicode to ASCII issue  The trick would be to find where it s happening    NET works fine with Unicode  assuming it s told it s Unicode to begin with  or left at the default     My guess is that your receiving app can t handle it  So  I d probably use the ASCIIEncoder with an EncoderReplacementFallback with String Empty   using System Text   string inputString   GetInput    var encoder   ASCIIEncoding GetEncoder    encoder Fallback   new EncoderReplacementFallback string Empty    byte   bAsciiString   encoder GetBytes inputString       Do something with bytes       can write to a file as is File WriteAllBytes FILE NAME  bAsciiString      or turn back into a  clean  string string cleanString   ASCIIEncoding GetString bAsciiString       since the offending bytes have been removed  can use default encoding as well Assert AreEqual cleanString  Default GetString bAsciiString      Of course  in the old days  we d just loop though and remove any chars greater than 127   well  those of us in the US at least

[c#] How to convert (transliterate) a string from utf8 to ASCII (single byte) in c#?

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