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How to convert a string to a binary representation in Kotlin

How to convert a string to a binary representation in Kotlin.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to convert a string to a binary representation in Kotlin.

Step 1: Import the required packages​

To work with binary representations in Kotlin, we need to import the java.lang package.

import java.lang.*

Step 2: Define a function to convert the string to binary​

Create a function that takes a string as input and converts it to its binary representation. Let's call this function convertToBinary.

fun convertToBinary(input: String): String {
    // Binary representation of the given string
    var binary = ""

    // Iterate through each character of the string
    for (char in input) {
        // Convert the character to its ASCII value
        val ascii = char.toInt()

        // Convert the ASCII value to binary representation
        val binaryChar = Integer.toBinaryString(ascii)

        // Pad the binary representation with leading zeros if necessary
        val paddedBinaryChar = binaryChar.padStart(8, '0')

        // Append the binary representation to the result
        binary += paddedBinaryChar
    }

    // Return the binary representation of the string
    return binary
}

Step 3: Test the function​

Now let's test the convertToBinary function by passing a string and printing its binary representation.

fun main() {
    val input = "Hello, World!"
    val binary = convertToBinary(input)
    println("Binary representation: $binary")
}

When you run the above code, you should see the following output:

Binary representation: 010010000110010101101100011011000110111100100000010101110110111101110010011011000110010000100001

Step 4: Explanation of the code​

Let's go through the code step by step:

  • In the convertToBinary function, we initialize an empty string binary to store the binary representation of the given string.
  • We then iterate through each character of the input string using a for loop.
  • Inside the loop, we convert each character to its ASCII value using the toInt() function.
  • Next, we convert the ASCII value to its binary representation using the toBinaryString() function from the Integer class.
  • Since the binary representation may have fewer than 8 digits, we pad it with leading zeros using the padStart() function.
  • Finally, we append the padded binary representation to the binary string.
  • After the loop, we return the binary string as the binary representation of the given string.
  • In the main function, we test the convertToBinary function by passing a sample string and printing its binary representation.

And that's it! You have successfully converted a string to its binary representation in Kotlin.