BinaryReader.ReadByte Method

Definition

Reads the next byte from the current stream and advances the current position of the stream by one byte.

C#
public virtual byte ReadByte();

Returns

The next byte read from the current stream.

Exceptions

The end of the stream is reached.

The stream is closed.

An I/O error occurred.

Examples

The following code example shows how to write binary data using memory as a backing store, and then verify that the data was written correctly.

C#
using System;
using System.IO;

class BinaryRW
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int i = 0;

        // Create random data to write to the stream.
        byte[] writeArray = new byte[1000];
        new Random().NextBytes(writeArray);

        BinaryWriter binWriter = new BinaryWriter(new MemoryStream());
        BinaryReader binReader =
            new BinaryReader(binWriter.BaseStream);

        try
        {
            // Write the data to the stream.
            Console.WriteLine("Writing the data.");
            for(i = 0; i < writeArray.Length; i++)
            {
                binWriter.Write(writeArray[i]);
            }

            // Set the stream position to the beginning of the stream.
            binReader.BaseStream.Position = 0;

            // Read and verify the data from the stream.
            for(i = 0; i < writeArray.Length; i++)
            {
                if(binReader.ReadByte() != writeArray[i])
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Error writing the data.");
                    return;
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine("The data was written and verified.");
        }

        // Catch the EndOfStreamException and write an error message.
        catch(EndOfStreamException e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Error writing the data.\n{0}",
                e.GetType().Name);
        }
    }
}

Remarks

BinaryReader does not restore the file position after an unsuccessful read.

Because of data formatting conflicts, using this method with the following encodings is not recommended:

  • UTF-7

  • ISO-2022-JP

  • ISCII

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

See also