What is the execpted result after base64.encode() ?

Question

Hi all,
I am trying to get file contents from Azure File Storage via REST API with the FileStorage Share Account & Key. I have read the Azure document and tried to create a valid Signature into the API Header, but I have a question about the Base64-decode.

According to Azure document here is how to create the Signature:

Signature=Base64(HMAC-SHA256(UTF8(StringToSign), Base64.decode(<your_azure_storage_account_shared_key>)))

When I try to decode the "your_azure_storage_account_shared_key" with base64, the result look garbled/wrong decode, example as follow:

input:

ABC/er5fghAerthj80+YCmacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacbacba==

Output:

¿z¾_‚ ®ØcóO˜
fœm§ iÆÚq¶œm§ iÆÚq¶œm§ iÆÚq¶œm§ iÆÚq¶œm§ iÆÚq¶œm

My question is:
The output seems garbled, it is a correct base64.decode result?

Answer 1

When you decode a base64 string the result is a byte array. It's not directly displayable as a string. So it's expected that it would look garbled if you tried to display it as a string.