Guid.ToByteArray Method

Definition

Namespace:

System

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Overloads

ToByteArray(Boolean)
ToByteArray()	Returns a 16-element byte array that contains the value of this instance.

ToByteArray(Boolean)

Source:

Guid.cs

public:
 cli::array <System::Byte> ^ ToByteArray(bool bigEndian);

public byte[] ToByteArray (bool bigEndian);

member this.ToByteArray : bool -> byte[]

Public Function ToByteArray (bigEndian As Boolean) As Byte()

Parameters

bigEndian

Boolean

Returns

Byte[]

ToByteArray()

Source:

Guid.cs

Returns a 16-element byte array that contains the value of this instance.

public:
 cli::array <System::Byte> ^ ToByteArray();

public byte[] ToByteArray ();

member this.ToByteArray : unit -> byte[]

Public Function ToByteArray () As Byte()

Returns

Byte[]

A 16-element byte array.

Examples

The following example calls the NewGuid method to create a Guid value, and then calls the ToByteArray method to represent the Guid value as a byte array. It then displays both values to the console. Finally, it instantiates a new Guid value from the byte array and calls its Equals(Guid) method to show that the two Guid values are identical.

Guid guid = Guid.NewGuid();
Console.WriteLine($"Guid: {guid}");
var bytes = guid.ToByteArray();
foreach (var byt in bytes)
    Console.Write($"{byt:X2} ");

Console.WriteLine();
var guid2 = new Guid(bytes);
Console.WriteLine($"Guid: {guid2} (Same as First Guid: {guid2.Equals(guid)})");

// The example displays output similar to the following:
//
//    Guid: 35918bc9-196d-40ea-9779-889d79b753f0
//    C9 8B 91 35 6D 19 EA 40 97 79 88 9D 79 B7 53 F0
//    Guid: 35918bc9-196d-40ea-9779-889d79b753f0 (Same as First Guid: True)

let guid = Guid.NewGuid()
printfn $"Guid: {guid}"
let bytes = guid.ToByteArray()
for byte in bytes do
    printf $"{byte:X2} "
printfn ""

let guid2 = Guid bytes
printfn $"Guid: {guid2} (Same as First Guid: {guid2.Equals(guid)})"

// The example displays output similar to the following:
//
//    Guid: 35918bc9-196d-40ea-9779-889d79b753f0
//    C9 8B 91 35 6D 19 EA 40 97 79 88 9D 79 B7 53 F0
//    Guid: 35918bc9-196d-40ea-9779-889d79b753f0 (Same as First Guid: True)

Module Example
   Public Sub Main()
      Dim guid As Guid = Guid.NewGuid
      Console.WriteLine("Guid: {0}", guid)
      Dim bytes() As Byte = guid.ToByteArray
      For Each byt In bytes
         Console.Write("{0:X2} ", byt)
      Next
      Console.WriteLine()
      Dim guid2 As New Guid(bytes)
      Console.WriteLine("Guid: {0} (Same as First Guid: {1})", guid2, guid2.Equals(guid))
   End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'    Guid: 35918bc9-196d-40ea-9779-889d79b753f0
'    C9 8B 91 35 6D 19 EA 40 97 79 88 9D 79 B7 53 F0
'    Guid: 35918bc9-196d-40ea-9779-889d79b753f0 (Same as First Guid: True)

Remarks

You can use the byte array returned by this method to round-trip a Guid value by calling the Guid(Byte[]) constructor.

Note that the order of bytes in the returned byte array is different from the string representation of a Guid value. The order of the beginning four-byte group and the next two two-byte groups is reversed, whereas the order of the last two-byte group and the closing six-byte group is the same. The example provides an illustration.