How to convert byte to string in Golang?
When working with golang you will most likely have scenario when you need to convert byte slice to string. There's several way to do this, let's explore how we can convert byte to string or string to byte in golang.
Primitive string function
This is the most easy way to convert byte to string. And it's okay it works and it standard way to do it.
b :=[]byte("example")
result := string(b)
But there's some issue with this method, which is the process of this method is slow.
Using unsafe pointer
If you want the process of this became fast let use this method.
import "unsafe"
func ByteToString(b []byte) string {
return *(*string)(unsafe.Pointer(&b))
}
Compare
So let's compare this method.
func ByteToString(b []byte) string {
return *(*string)(unsafe.Pointer(&b))
}
func ByteToString2(b []byte) string {
return string(b)
}
func main() {
start := time.Now()
b := []byte("€xample 💡")
for i := 0; i < 10000000; i++ {
ByteToString(b)
}
end := time.Now()
fmt.Printf("unsafe.Pointer(&b) : %+v / 10000000 operation\n", (end.Sub(start)))
start = time.Now()
for i := 0; i < 10000000; i++ {
ByteToString2(b)
}
end = time.Now()
fmt.Printf("string(b) : %+v / 10000000 operation\n", (end.Sub(start)))
}
So the result would be like this.
unsafe.Pointer(&b) : 2.9967ms / 10000000 operation
string(b) : 53.9999ms / 10000000 operation
