[Qismon]

Here are 3 of the most common ways to encode/decode a string in powershell. Each example has an encode and decode function, as well as an example to show you how to use it.

[BASE64 ENCODING/DECODING]

Code

function Convert-StringToBase64() {
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=0)]
        [string] $stringIn
    )

    $baseEncoded = [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($stringIn))
    return $baseEncoded
}


function Convert-Base64ToString() {
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=0)]
        [string] $stringIn
    )

    $decodedString = [Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString([Convert]::FromBase64String($stringIn))
    return $decodedString
}


# Usage:
$plainText = 'https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w64/putty.exe'

$encodedText = Convert-StringToBase64 $plainText
Write-Host $encodedText

$decodedText = Convert-Base64ToString $encodedText
Write-Host $decodedText

[BINARY ENCODING/DECODING]

Code

function Convert-StringToBinary() {
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=0)]
        [string] $stringIn
    )
    
    $stringBytes  = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($stringIn)
    $binaryArray  = $stringBytes | ForEach-Object {[System.Convert]::ToString($_, 2).PadLeft(8, '0')}
    $binaryString = $binaryArray -join('')

    return $binaryString
}


function Convert-BinaryToString() {
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=0)]
        [string] $stringIn
    )
    
    $arrayIndex = 0
    $bytesArray = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
    
    while($arrayIndex -lt $stringIn.Length) {
        $binarySection = $stringIn.Substring($arrayIndex, 8)
        $binaryBytes   = [System.Convert]::ToByte($binarySection, 2)

        $bytesArray.Add($binaryBytes) | Out-Null
        $arrayIndex += 8
    }
    
    $decodedString = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString($bytesArray.ToArray())

    return $decodedString
}


# Usage:
$plainText = 'https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w64/putty.exe'

$encodedText = Convert-StringToBinary $plainText
Write-Host $encodedText

$decodedText = Convert-BinaryToString $encodedText
Write-Host $decodedText

[HEX ENCODING/DECODING]

Code

function Convert-StringToHex() {
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=0)]
        [string] $stringIn
    )
    
    $hexEncoded = ''
    
    $stringIn.ToCharArray() | ForEach-Object -Process {
        $hexEncoded += '{0:x}' -f [int][char]$_
    }
    
    return $hexEncoded
}


function Convert-HexToString() {
    Param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=0)]
        [string] $rawHexString
    )

    $decodedString = ''

    for($stringIndex = 0; $stringIndex -lt $rawHexString.Length; $stringIndex += 2) {
        $decodedString += [char][int]("0x" + $rawHexString.Substring($stringIndex,2))
    }
    
    return $decodedString
}


# Usage:
$plainText = 'https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w64/putty.exe'

$encodedText = Convert-StringToHex $plainText
Write-Host $encodedText

$decodedText = Convert-HexToString $encodedText
Write-Host $decodedText

[Ren And Stimpy]

Great share mate!! Thank you

[mikeyp]

Very interesting, thanks for the information.