> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://documentation.astera.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://documentation.astera.com/functions/encoding/tobytes.md).

# ToBytes

| **Name**    | ***ToBytes***                                                                                                                                              |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Syntax      | ToBytes (String str, String codePage)                                                                                                                      |
| Purpose     | To return a byte array in the given encoding.                                                                                                              |
| Description | Returns and array of bytes. Good as an intermediate structure to be used with other functions.                                                             |
| Return Type | Byte                                                                                                                                                       |
| Parameters  | <p>str \[System.String] – The string to convert</p><p>codepage \[System.String] – The code page that string is currently encoded in. Default is UTF-8.</p> |

![](/files/wT9pV9WQQXymumhg6uoq)

**Example**

In this example, we are passing the required parameters to the function transformation object using a *Variables* object.

Where,

*str =* Hello World

*codepage* = UTF-8 (Default)

![](/files/DLUuMDco4KXfKUoAybVV)

Right-click on the function transformation object and select *Preview Output.* You can see that Astera has returned the byte value of the specified UTF-8 string.

![](/files/daXznAgpIHaRd42blB08)


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