QByteArray Class

The QByteArray class provides an array of bytes. More...

Header: #include <QByteArray>
CMake: find_package(Qt6 COMPONENTS Core REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::Core)
qmake: QT += core

Note: All functions in this class are reentrant.

Public Types

class FromBase64Result
enum Base64Option { Base64Encoding, Base64UrlEncoding, KeepTrailingEquals, OmitTrailingEquals, IgnoreBase64DecodingErrors, AbortOnBase64DecodingErrors }
flags Base64Options
const_iterator
const_reverse_iterator
iterator
reverse_iterator

Public Functions

QByteArray(QByteArray &&other)
QByteArray(const QByteArray &other)
QByteArray(qsizetype size, char ch)
QByteArray(const char *data, qsizetype size = -1)
QByteArray()
QByteArray &operator=(QByteArray &&other)
QByteArray &operator=(const QByteArray &other)
~QByteArray()
QByteArray &append(const QByteArray &ba)
QByteArray &append(char ch)
QByteArray &append(qsizetype count, char ch)
QByteArray &append(const char *str)
QByteArray &append(const char *str, qsizetype len)
QByteArray &append(QByteArrayView data)
char at(qsizetype i) const
char back() const
char &back()
QByteArray::iterator begin()
QByteArray::const_iterator begin() const
qsizetype capacity() const
QByteArray::const_iterator cbegin() const
QByteArray::const_iterator cend() const
void chop(qsizetype n)
QByteArray chopped(qsizetype len) const
void clear()
int compare(QByteArrayView bv, Qt::CaseSensitivity cs = Qt::CaseSensitive) const
QByteArray::const_iterator constBegin() const
const char *constData() const
QByteArray::const_iterator constEnd() const
bool contains(QByteArrayView bv) const
bool contains(char ch) const
qsizetype count(QByteArrayView bv) const
qsizetype count(char ch) const
qsizetype count() const
QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator crbegin() const
QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator crend() const
char *data()
const char *data() const
QByteArray::iterator end()
QByteArray::const_iterator end() const
bool endsWith(QByteArrayView bv) const
bool endsWith(char ch) const
QByteArray &fill(char ch, qsizetype size = -1)
QByteArray first(qsizetype n) const
char front() const
char &front()
qsizetype indexOf(QByteArrayView bv, qsizetype from = 0) const
qsizetype indexOf(char ch, qsizetype from = 0) const
QByteArray &insert(qsizetype i, QByteArrayView data)
QByteArray &insert(qsizetype i, const char *s)
QByteArray &insert(qsizetype i, const QByteArray &data)
QByteArray &insert(qsizetype i, qsizetype count, char ch)
QByteArray &insert(qsizetype i, char ch)
QByteArray &insert(qsizetype i, const char *data, qsizetype len)
bool isEmpty() const
bool isLower() const
bool isNull() const
bool isUpper() const
QByteArray last(qsizetype n) const
qsizetype lastIndexOf(QByteArrayView bv, qsizetype from = -1) const
qsizetype lastIndexOf(char ch, qsizetype from = -1) const
QByteArray left(qsizetype len) const
QByteArray leftJustified(qsizetype width, char fill = ' ', bool truncate = false) const
qsizetype length() const
QByteArray mid(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len = -1) const
QByteArray &prepend(QByteArrayView ba)
QByteArray &prepend(char ch)
QByteArray &prepend(qsizetype count, char ch)
QByteArray &prepend(const char *str)
QByteArray &prepend(const char *str, qsizetype len)
QByteArray &prepend(const QByteArray &ba)
void push_back(const QByteArray &other)
void push_back(char ch)
void push_back(const char *str)
void push_back(QByteArrayView str)
void push_front(const QByteArray &other)
void push_front(char ch)
void push_front(const char *str)
void push_front(QByteArrayView str)
QByteArray::reverse_iterator rbegin()
QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator rbegin() const
QByteArray &remove(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len)
QByteArray::reverse_iterator rend()
QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator rend() const
QByteArray repeated(qsizetype times) const
QByteArray &replace(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len, QByteArrayView after)
QByteArray &replace(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len, const char *after, qsizetype alen)
QByteArray &replace(char before, QByteArrayView after)
QByteArray &replace(const char *before, qsizetype bsize, const char *after, qsizetype asize)
QByteArray &replace(QByteArrayView before, QByteArrayView after)
QByteArray &replace(char before, char after)
void reserve(qsizetype size)
void resize(qsizetype size)
QByteArray right(qsizetype len) const
QByteArray rightJustified(qsizetype width, char fill = ' ', bool truncate = false) const
QByteArray &setNum(int n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(short n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(ushort n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(uint n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(long n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(ulong n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(qlonglong n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(qulonglong n, int base = 10)
QByteArray &setNum(float n, char f = 'g', int prec = 6)
QByteArray &setNum(double n, char f = 'g', int prec = 6)
QByteArray &setRawData(const char *data, qsizetype size)
void shrink_to_fit()
QByteArray simplified() const
qsizetype size() const
QByteArray sliced(qsizetype pos, qsizetype n) const
QByteArray sliced(qsizetype pos) const
QList<QByteArray> split(char sep) const
void squeeze()
bool startsWith(QByteArrayView bv) const
bool startsWith(char ch) const
void swap(QByteArray &other)
QByteArray toBase64(QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding) const
CFDataRef toCFData() const
double toDouble(bool *ok = nullptr) const
float toFloat(bool *ok = nullptr) const
QByteArray toHex(char separator = '\0') const
int toInt(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
long toLong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
qlonglong toLongLong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
QByteArray toLower() const
NSData *toNSData() const
QByteArray toPercentEncoding(const QByteArray &exclude = QByteArray(), const QByteArray &include = QByteArray(), char percent = '%') const
CFDataRef toRawCFData() const
NSData *toRawNSData() const
short toShort(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
std::string toStdString() const
uint toUInt(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
ulong toULong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
qulonglong toULongLong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
ushort toUShort(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const
QByteArray toUpper() const
QByteArray trimmed() const
void truncate(qsizetype pos)
const char *operator const char *() const
const void *operator const void *() const
bool operator!=(const QString &str) const
QByteArray &operator+=(const QByteArray &ba)
QByteArray &operator+=(char ch)
QByteArray &operator+=(const char *str)
bool operator<(const QString &str) const
bool operator<=(const QString &str) const
QByteArray &operator=(const char *str)
bool operator==(const QString &str) const
bool operator>(const QString &str) const
bool operator>=(const QString &str) const
char &operator[](qsizetype i)
char operator[](qsizetype i) const

Static Public Members

QByteArray fromBase64(const QByteArray &base64, QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding)
QByteArray::FromBase64Result fromBase64Encoding(QByteArray &&base64, QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding)
QByteArray::FromBase64Result fromBase64Encoding(const QByteArray &base64, QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding)
QByteArray fromCFData(CFDataRef data)
QByteArray fromHex(const QByteArray &hexEncoded)
QByteArray fromNSData(const NSData *data)
QByteArray fromPercentEncoding(const QByteArray &input, char percent = '%')
QByteArray fromRawCFData(CFDataRef data)
QByteArray fromRawData(const char *data, qsizetype size)
QByteArray fromRawNSData(const NSData *data)
QByteArray fromStdString(const std::string &str)
QByteArray number(int n, int base = 10)
QByteArray number(uint n, int base = 10)
QByteArray number(long n, int base = 10)
QByteArray number(ulong n, int base = 10)
QByteArray number(qlonglong n, int base = 10)
QByteArray number(qulonglong n, int base = 10)
QByteArray number(double n, char f = 'g', int prec = 6)
quint16 qChecksum(QByteArrayView data, Qt::ChecksumType standard = Qt::ChecksumIso3309)
QByteArray qCompress(const QByteArray &data, int compressionLevel = -1)
QByteArray qCompress(const uchar *data, qsizetype nbytes, int compressionLevel = -1)
QByteArray qUncompress(const QByteArray &data)
QByteArray qUncompress(const uchar *data, qsizetype nbytes)
int qsnprintf(char *str, size_t n, const char *fmt, ...)
int qstrcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2)
char *qstrcpy(char *dst, const char *src)
char *qstrdup(const char *src)
int qstricmp(const char *str1, const char *str2)
size_t qstrlen(const char *str)
int qstrncmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t len)
char *qstrncpy(char *dst, const char *src, size_t len)
int qstrnicmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t len)
size_t qstrnlen(const char *str, size_t maxlen)
int qvsnprintf(char *str, size_t n, const char *fmt, va_list ap)
bool operator!=(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator!=(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)
bool operator!=(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)
const QByteArray operator+(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)
const QByteArray operator+(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)
const QByteArray operator+(const QByteArray &a1, char a2)
const QByteArray operator+(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)
const QByteArray operator+(char a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator<(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator<(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)
bool operator<(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)
QDataStream &operator<<(QDataStream &out, const QByteArray &ba)
bool operator<=(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator<=(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)
bool operator<=(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator==(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator==(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)
bool operator==(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator>(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator>(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)
bool operator>(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator>=(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)
bool operator>=(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)
bool operator>=(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)
QDataStream &operator>>(QDataStream &in, QByteArray &ba)

Macros

Detailed Description

QByteArray can be used to store both raw bytes (including '\0's) and traditional 8-bit '\0'-terminated strings. Using QByteArray is much more convenient than using const char *. Behind the scenes, it always ensures that the data is followed by a '\0' terminator, and uses implicit sharing (copy-on-write) to reduce memory usage and avoid needless copying of data.

In addition to QByteArray, Qt also provides the QString class to store string data. For most purposes, QString is the class you want to use. It understands its content as Unicode text (encoded using UTF-16) where QByteArray aims to avoid assumptions about the encoding or semantics of the bytes it stores (aside from a few legacy cases where it uses ASCII). Furthermore, QString is used throughout in the Qt API. The two main cases where QByteArray is appropriate are when you need to store raw binary data, and when memory conservation is critical (e.g., with Qt for Embedded Linux).

One way to initialize a QByteArray is simply to pass a const char * to its constructor. For example, the following code creates a byte array of size 5 containing the data "Hello":

QByteArray ba("Hello");

Although the size() is 5, the byte array also maintains an extra '\0' byte at the end so that if a function is used that asks for a pointer to the underlying data (e.g. a call to data()), the data pointed to is guaranteed to be '\0'-terminated.

QByteArray makes a deep copy of the const char * data, so you can modify it later without experiencing side effects. (If, for example for performance reasons, you don't want to take a deep copy of the data, use QByteArray::fromRawData() instead.)

Another approach is to set the size of the array using resize() and to initialize the data byte by byte. QByteArray uses 0-based indexes, just like C++ arrays. To access the byte at a particular index position, you can use operator[](). On non-const byte arrays, operator[]() returns a reference to a byte that can be used on the left side of an assignment. For example:

QByteArray ba;
ba.resize(5);
ba[0] = 0x3c;
ba[1] = 0xb8;
ba[2] = 0x64;
ba[3] = 0x18;
ba[4] = 0xca;

For read-only access, an alternative syntax is to use at():

for (qsizetype i = 0; i < ba.size(); ++i) {
    if (ba.at(i) >= 'a' && ba.at(i) <= 'f')
        cout << "Found character in range [a-f]" << Qt::endl;
}

at() can be faster than operator[](), because it never causes a deep copy to occur.

To extract many bytes at a time, use first(), last(), or sliced().

A QByteArray can embed '\0' bytes. The size() function always returns the size of the whole array, including embedded '\0' bytes, but excluding the terminating '\0' added by QByteArray. For example:

QByteArray ba1("ca\0r\0t");
ba1.size();                     // Returns 2.
ba1.constData();                // Returns "ca" with terminating \0.

QByteArray ba2("ca\0r\0t", 3);
ba2.size();                     // Returns 3.
ba2.constData();                // Returns "ca\0" with terminating \0.

QByteArray ba3("ca\0r\0t", 4);
ba3.size();                     // Returns 4.
ba3.constData();                // Returns "ca\0r" with terminating \0.

const char cart[] = {'c', 'a', '\0', 'r', '\0', 't'};
QByteArray ba4(QByteArray::fromRawData(cart, 6));
ba4.size();                     // Returns 6.
ba4.constData();                // Returns "ca\0r\0t" without terminating \0.

If you want to obtain the length of the data up to and excluding the first '\0' byte, call qstrlen() on the byte array.

After a call to resize(), newly allocated bytes have undefined values. To set all the bytes to a particular value, call fill().

To obtain a pointer to the actual bytes, call data() or constData(). These functions return a pointer to the beginning of the data. The pointer is guaranteed to remain valid until a non-const function is called on the QByteArray. It is also guaranteed that the data ends with a '\0' byte unless the QByteArray was created from raw data. This '\0' byte is automatically provided by QByteArray and is not counted in size().

QByteArray provides the following basic functions for modifying the byte data: append(), prepend(), insert(), replace(), and remove(). For example:

QByteArray x("and");
x.prepend("rock ");         // x == "rock and"
x.append(" roll");          // x == "rock and roll"
x.replace(5, 3, "&");       // x == "rock & roll"

In the above example the replace() function's first two arguments are the position from which to start replacing and the number of bytes that should be replaced.

When data-modifying functions increase the size of the array, they may lead to reallocation of memory for the QByteArray object. When this happens, QByteArray expands by more than it immediately needs so as to have space for further expansion without reallocation until the size of the array has greatly increased.

The insert(), remove() and, when replacing a sub-array with one of different size, replace() functions can be slow (linear time) for large arrays, because they require moving many bytes in the array by at least one position in memory.

If you are building a QByteArray gradually and know in advance approximately how many bytes the QByteArray will contain, you can call reserve(), asking QByteArray to preallocate a certain amount of memory. You can also call capacity() to find out how much memory the QByteArray actually has allocated.

Note that using non-const operators and functions can cause QByteArray to do a deep copy of the data, due to implicit sharing.

QByteArray provides STL-style iterators (QByteArray::const_iterator and QByteArray::iterator). In practice, iterators are handy when working with generic algorithms provided by the C++ standard library.

Note: Iterators and references to individual QByteArray elements are subject to stability issues. They are often invalidated when a QByteArray-modifying operation (e.g. insert() or remove()) is called. When stability and iterator-like functionality is required, you should use indexes instead of iterators as they are not tied to QByteArray's internal state and thus do not get invalidated.

Note: Iterators over a QByteArray, and references to individual bytes within one, cannot be relied on to remain valid when any non-const method of the QByteArray is called. Accessing such an iterator or reference after the call to a non-const method leads to undefined behavior. When stability for iterator-like functionality is required, you should use indexes instead of iterators as they are not tied to QByteArray's internal state and thus do not get invalidated.

If you want to find all occurrences of a particular byte or sequence of bytes in a QByteArray, use indexOf() or lastIndexOf(). The former searches forward starting from a given index position, the latter searches backward. Both return the index position of the byte sequence if they find it; otherwise, they return -1. For example, here's a typical loop that finds all occurrences of a particular string:

QByteArray ba("We must be <b>bold</b>, very <b>bold</b>");
qsizetype j = 0;
while ((j = ba.indexOf("<b>", j)) != -1) {
    cout << "Found <b> tag at index position " << j << Qt::endl;
    ++j;
}

If you simply want to check whether a QByteArray contains a particular byte sequence, use contains(). If you want to find out how many times a particular byte sequence occurs in the byte array, use count(). If you want to replace all occurrences of a particular value with another, use one of the two-parameter replace() overloads.

QByteArrays can be compared using overloaded operators such as operator<(), operator<=(), operator==(), operator>=(), and so on. The comparison is based exclusively on the numeric values of the bytes and is very fast, but is not what a human would expect. QString::localeAwareCompare() is a better choice for sorting user-interface strings.

For historical reasons, QByteArray distinguishes between a null byte array and an empty byte array. A null byte array is a byte array that is initialized using QByteArray's default constructor or by passing (const char *)0 to the constructor. An empty byte array is any byte array with size 0. A null byte array is always empty, but an empty byte array isn't necessarily null:

QByteArray().isNull();          // returns true
QByteArray().isEmpty();         // returns true

QByteArray("").isNull();        // returns false
QByteArray("").isEmpty();       // returns true

QByteArray("abc").isNull();     // returns false
QByteArray("abc").isEmpty();    // returns false

All functions except isNull() treat null byte arrays the same as empty byte arrays. For example, data() returns a valid pointer (not nullptr) to a '\0' byte for a null byte array and QByteArray() compares equal to QByteArray(""). We recommend that you always use isEmpty() and avoid isNull().

Maximum size and out-of-memory conditions

The maximum size of QByteArray depends on the architecture. Most 64-bit systems can allocate more than 2 GB of memory, with a typical limit of 2^63 bytes. The actual value also depends on the overhead required for managing the data block. As a result, you can expect the maximum size of 2 GB minus overhead on 32-bit platforms, and 2^63 bytes minus overhead on 64-bit platforms. The number of elements that can be stored in a QByteArray is this maximum size.

When memory allocation fails, QByteArray throws a std::bad_alloc exception if the application is being compiled with exception support. Out of memory conditions in Qt containers are the only case where Qt will throw exceptions. If exceptions are disabled, then running out of memory is undefined behavior.

Note that the operating system may impose further limits on applications holding a lot of allocated memory, especially large, contiguous blocks. Such considerations, the configuration of such behavior or any mitigation are outside the scope of the QByteArray API.

C locale and ASCII functions

QByteArray generally handles data as bytes, without presuming any semantics; where it does presume semantics, it uses the C locale and ASCII encoding. Standard Unicode encodings are supported by QString, other encodings may be supported using QStringEncoder and QStringDecoder to convert to Unicode. For locale-specific interpretation of text, use QLocale or QString.

C Strings

Traditional C strings, also known as '\0'-terminated strings, are sequences of bytes, specified by a start-point and implicitly including each byte up to, but not including, the first '\0' byte thereafter. Methods that accept such a pointer, without a length, will interpret it as this sequence of bytes. Such a sequence, by construction, cannot contain a '\0' byte.

Other overloads accept a start-pointer and a byte-count; these use the given number of bytes, following the start address, regardless of whether any of them happen to be '\0' bytes. In some cases, where there is no overload taking only a pointer, passing a length of -1 will cause the method to use the offset of the first '\0' byte after the pointer as the length; a length of -1 should only be passed if the method explicitly says it does this (in which case it is typically a default argument).

Spacing Characters

A frequent requirement is to remove spacing characters from a byte array ('\n', '\t', ' ', etc.). If you want to remove spacing from both ends of a QByteArray, use trimmed(). If you want to also replace each run of spacing characters with a single space character within the byte array, use simplified(). Only ASCII spacing characters are recognized for these purposes.

Number-String Conversions

Functions that perform conversions between numeric data types and strings are performed in the C locale, regardless of the user's locale settings. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

Character Case

In QByteArray, the notion of uppercase and lowercase and of case-independent comparison is limited to ASCII. Non-ASCII characters are treated as caseless, since their case depends on encoding. This affects functions that support a case insensitive option or that change the case of their arguments. Functions that this affects include contains(), indexOf(), lastIndexOf(), isLower(), isUpper(), toLower() and toUpper().

This issue does not apply to QStrings since they represent characters using Unicode.

See also QByteArrayView, QString, and QBitArray.

Member Type Documentation

[since 5.2] enum QByteArray::Base64Option
flags QByteArray::Base64Options

This enum contains the options available for encoding and decoding Base64. Base64 is defined by RFC 4648, with the following options:

ConstantValueDescription
QByteArray::Base64Encoding0(default) The regular Base64 alphabet, called simply "base64"
QByteArray::Base64UrlEncoding1An alternate alphabet, called "base64url", which replaces two characters in the alphabet to be more friendly to URLs.
QByteArray::KeepTrailingEquals0(default) Keeps the trailing padding equal signs at the end of the encoded data, so the data is always a size multiple of four.
QByteArray::OmitTrailingEquals2Omits adding the padding equal signs at the end of the encoded data.
QByteArray::IgnoreBase64DecodingErrors0When decoding Base64-encoded data, ignores errors in the input; invalid characters are simply skipped. This enum value has been added in Qt 5.15.
QByteArray::AbortOnBase64DecodingErrors4When decoding Base64-encoded data, stops at the first decoding error. This enum value has been added in Qt 5.15.

QByteArray::fromBase64Encoding() and QByteArray::fromBase64() ignore the KeepTrailingEquals and OmitTrailingEquals options. If the IgnoreBase64DecodingErrors option is specified, they will not flag errors in case trailing equal signs are missing or if there are too many of them. If instead the AbortOnBase64DecodingErrors is specified, then the input must either have no padding or have the correct amount of equal signs.

This enum was introduced or modified in Qt 5.2.

The Base64Options type is a typedef for QFlags<Base64Option>. It stores an OR combination of Base64Option values.

QByteArray::const_iterator

This typedef provides an STL-style const iterator for QByteArray.

See also QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator and QByteArray::iterator.

[since 5.6] QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator

This typedef provides an STL-style const reverse iterator for QByteArray.

This typedef was introduced in Qt 5.6.

See also QByteArray::reverse_iterator and QByteArray::const_iterator.

QByteArray::iterator

This typedef provides an STL-style non-const iterator for QByteArray.

See also QByteArray::reverse_iterator and QByteArray::const_iterator.

[since 5.6] QByteArray::reverse_iterator

This typedef provides an STL-style non-const reverse iterator for QByteArray.

This typedef was introduced in Qt 5.6.

See also QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator and QByteArray::iterator.

Member Function Documentation

[static] QByteArray::FromBase64Result QByteArray::fromBase64Encoding(QByteArray &&base64, QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding)

[static] QByteArray::FromBase64Result QByteArray::fromBase64Encoding(const QByteArray &base64, QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding)

This is an overloaded function.

Decodes the Base64 array base64, using the options defined by options. If options contains IgnoreBase64DecodingErrors (the default), the input is not checked for validity; invalid characters in the input are skipped, enabling the decoding process to continue with subsequent characters. If options contains AbortOnBase64DecodingErrors, then decoding will stop at the first invalid character.

For example:

void process(const QByteArray &);

if (auto result = QByteArray::fromBase64Encoding(encodedData))
    process(*result);

The algorithm used to decode Base64-encoded data is defined in RFC 4648.

Returns a QByteArrayFromBase64Result object, containing the decoded data and a flag telling whether decoding was successful. If the AbortOnBase64DecodingErrors option was passed and the input data was invalid, it is unspecified what the decoded data contains.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.15.

See also toBase64().

const char *QByteArray::operator const char *() const

const void *QByteArray::operator const void *() const

Note: Use constData() instead in new code.

Returns a pointer to the data stored in the byte array. The pointer can be used to access the bytes that compose the array. The data is '\0'-terminated.

The pointer remains valid as long as no detach happens and the QByteArray is not modified. This operator is mostly useful to pass a byte array to a function that accepts a const char *.

You can disable this operator by defining QT_NO_CAST_FROM_BYTEARRAY when you compile your applications.

Note: A QByteArray can store any byte values including '\0's, but most functions that take char * arguments assume that the data ends at the first '\0' they encounter.

See also constData().

[since 5.2] QByteArray::QByteArray(QByteArray &&other)

Move-constructs a QByteArray instance, making it point at the same object that other was pointing to.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.2.

QByteArray::QByteArray(const QByteArray &other)

Constructs a copy of other.

This operation takes constant time, because QByteArray is implicitly shared. This makes returning a QByteArray from a function very fast. If a shared instance is modified, it will be copied (copy-on-write), taking linear time.

See also operator=().

QByteArray::QByteArray(qsizetype size, char ch)

Constructs a byte array of size size with every byte set to ch.

See also fill().

QByteArray::QByteArray(const char *data, qsizetype size = -1)

Constructs a byte array containing the first size bytes of array data.

If data is 0, a null byte array is constructed.

If size is negative, data is assumed to point to a '\0'-terminated string and its length is determined dynamically.

QByteArray makes a deep copy of the string data.

See also fromRawData().

QByteArray::QByteArray()

Constructs an empty byte array.

See also isEmpty().

[since 5.2] QByteArray &QByteArray::operator=(QByteArray &&other)

Move-assigns other to this QByteArray instance.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.2.

QByteArray &QByteArray::operator=(const QByteArray &other)

Assigns other to this byte array and returns a reference to this byte array.

QByteArray::~QByteArray()

Destroys the byte array.

QByteArray &QByteArray::append(const QByteArray &ba)

Appends the byte array ba onto the end of this byte array.

Example:

QByteArray x("free");
QByteArray y("dom");
x.append(y);
// x == "freedom"

This is the same as insert(size(), ba).

Note: QByteArray is an implicitly shared class. Consequently, if you append to an empty byte array, then the byte array will just share the data held in ba. In this case, no copying of data is done, taking constant time. If a shared instance is modified, it will be copied (copy-on-write), taking linear time.

If the byte array being appended to is not empty, a deep copy of the data is performed, taking linear time.

The append() function is typically very fast (constant time), because QByteArray preallocates extra space at the end of the data, so it can grow without reallocating the entire array each time.

See also operator+=(), prepend(), and insert().

QByteArray &QByteArray::append(char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Appends the byte ch to this byte array.

[since 5.7] QByteArray &QByteArray::append(qsizetype count, char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Appends count copies of byte ch to this byte array and returns a reference to this byte array.

If count is negative or zero nothing is appended to the byte array.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.7.

QByteArray &QByteArray::append(const char *str)

This is an overloaded function.

Appends the '\0'-terminated string str to this byte array.

QByteArray &QByteArray::append(const char *str, qsizetype len)

This is an overloaded function.

Appends the first len bytes starting at str to this byte array and returns a reference to this byte array. The bytes appended may include '\0' bytes.

If len is negative, str will be assumed to be a '\0'-terminated string and the length to be copied will be determined automatically using qstrlen().

If len is zero or str is null, nothing is appended to the byte array. Ensure that len is not longer than str.

QByteArray &QByteArray::append(QByteArrayView data)

This is an overloaded function.

Appends data to this byte array.

char QByteArray::at(qsizetype i) const

Returns the byte at index position i in the byte array.

i must be a valid index position in the byte array (i.e., 0 <= i < size()).

See also operator[]().

[since 5.10] char QByteArray::back() const

Returns the last byte in the byte array. Same as at(size() - 1).

This function is provided for STL compatibility.

Warning: Calling this function on an empty byte array constitutes undefined behavior.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.10.

See also front(), at(), and operator[]().

[since 5.10] char &QByteArray::back()

Returns a reference to the last byte in the byte array. Same as operator[](size() - 1).

This function is provided for STL compatibility.

Warning: Calling this function on an empty byte array constitutes undefined behavior.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.10.

See also front(), at(), and operator[]().

QByteArray::iterator QByteArray::begin()

Returns an STL-style iterator pointing to the first byte in the byte-array.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

See also constBegin() and end().

QByteArray::const_iterator QByteArray::begin() const

This function overloads begin().

qsizetype QByteArray::capacity() const

Returns the maximum number of bytes that can be stored in the byte array without forcing a reallocation.

The sole purpose of this function is to provide a means of fine tuning QByteArray's memory usage. In general, you will rarely ever need to call this function. If you want to know how many bytes are in the byte array, call size().

Note: a statically allocated byte array will report a capacity of 0, even if it's not empty.

Note: The free space position in the allocated memory block is undefined. In other words, one should not assume that the free memory is always located after the initialized elements.

See also reserve() and squeeze().

[since 5.0] QByteArray::const_iterator QByteArray::cbegin() const

Returns a const STL-style iterator pointing to the first byte in the byte-array.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.0.

See also begin() and cend().

[since 5.0] QByteArray::const_iterator QByteArray::cend() const

Returns a const STL-style iterator pointing just after the last byte in the byte-array.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.0.

See also cbegin() and end().

void QByteArray::chop(qsizetype n)

Removes n bytes from the end of the byte array.

If n is greater than size(), the result is an empty byte array.

Example:

QByteArray ba("STARTTLS\r\n");
ba.chop(2);                 // ba == "STARTTLS"

See also truncate(), resize(), and first().

[since 5.10] QByteArray QByteArray::chopped(qsizetype len) const

Returns a byte array that contains the leftmost size() - len bytes of this byte array.

Note: The behavior is undefined if len is negative or greater than size().

This function was introduced in Qt 5.10.

See also endsWith(), first(), last(), sliced(), chop(), and truncate().

void QByteArray::clear()

Clears the contents of the byte array and makes it null.

See also resize() and isNull().

[since 6.0] int QByteArray::compare(QByteArrayView bv, Qt::CaseSensitivity cs = Qt::CaseSensitive) const

Returns an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero depending on whether this QByteArray sorts before, at the same position as, or after the QByteArrayView bv. The comparison is performed according to case sensitivity cs.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also operator== and Character Case.

QByteArray::const_iterator QByteArray::constBegin() const

Returns a const STL-style iterator pointing to the first byte in the byte-array.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

See also begin() and constEnd().

const char *QByteArray::constData() const

Returns a pointer to the const data stored in the byte array. The pointer can be used to access the bytes that compose the array. The data is '\0'-terminated unless the QByteArray object was created from raw data.

The pointer remains valid as long as no detach happens and the QByteArray is not modified.

This function is mostly useful to pass a byte array to a function that accepts a const char *.

Note: A QByteArray can store any byte values including '\0's, but most functions that take char * arguments assume that the data ends at the first '\0' they encounter.

See also data(), operator[](), and fromRawData().

QByteArray::const_iterator QByteArray::constEnd() const

Returns a const STL-style iterator pointing just after the last byte in the byte-array.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

See also constBegin() and end().

[since 6.0] bool QByteArray::contains(QByteArrayView bv) const

Returns true if this byte array contains an occurrence of the sequence of bytes viewed by bv; otherwise returns false.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also indexOf() and count().

bool QByteArray::contains(char ch) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if the byte array contains the byte ch; otherwise returns false.

[since 6.0] qsizetype QByteArray::count(QByteArrayView bv) const

Returns the number of (potentially overlapping) occurrences of the sequence of bytes viewed by bv in this byte array.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also contains() and indexOf().

qsizetype QByteArray::count(char ch) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns the number of occurrences of byte ch in the byte array.

See also contains() and indexOf().

qsizetype QByteArray::count() const

This is an overloaded function.

Same as size().

[since 5.6] QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator QByteArray::crbegin() const

Returns a const STL-style reverse iterator pointing to the first byte in the byte-array, in reverse order.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.6.

See also begin(), rbegin(), and rend().

[since 5.6] QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator QByteArray::crend() const

Returns a const STL-style reverse iterator pointing just after the last byte in the byte-array, in reverse order.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.6.

See also end(), rend(), and rbegin().

char *QByteArray::data()

Returns a pointer to the data stored in the byte array. The pointer can be used to access and modify the bytes that compose the array. The data is '\0'-terminated, i.e. the number of bytes you can access following the returned pointer is size() + 1, including the '\0' terminator.

Example:

QByteArray ba("Hello world");
char *data = ba.data();
while (*data) {
    cout << "[" << *data << "]" << Qt::endl;
    ++data;
}

The pointer remains valid as long as no detach happens and the QByteArray is not modified.

For read-only access, constData() is faster because it never causes a deep copy to occur.

This function is mostly useful to pass a byte array to a function that accepts a const char *.

The following example makes a copy of the char* returned by data(), but it will corrupt the heap and cause a crash because it does not allocate a byte for the '\0' at the end:

QString tmp = "test";
QByteArray text = tmp.toLocal8Bit();
char *data = new char[text.size()];
strcpy(data, text.data());
delete [] data;

This one allocates the correct amount of space:

QString tmp = "test";
QByteArray text = tmp.toLocal8Bit();
char *data = new char[text.size() + 1];
strcpy(data, text.data());
delete [] data;

Note: A QByteArray can store any byte values including '\0's, but most functions that take char * arguments assume that the data ends at the first '\0' they encounter.

See also constData() and operator[]().

const char *QByteArray::data() const

This is an overloaded function.

QByteArray::iterator QByteArray::end()

Returns an STL-style iterator pointing just after the last byte in the byte-array.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

See also begin() and constEnd().

QByteArray::const_iterator QByteArray::end() const

This function overloads end().

[since 6.0] bool QByteArray::endsWith(QByteArrayView bv) const

Returns true if this byte array ends with the sequence of bytes viewed by bv; otherwise returns false.

Example:

QByteArray url("http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-5.0/qtdoc/index.html");
if (url.endsWith(".html"))
    ...

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also startsWith() and last().

bool QByteArray::endsWith(char ch) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if this byte array ends with byte ch; otherwise returns false.

QByteArray &QByteArray::fill(char ch, qsizetype size = -1)

Sets every byte in the byte array to ch. If size is different from -1 (the default), the byte array is resized to size size beforehand.

Example:

QByteArray ba("Istambul");
ba.fill('o');
// ba == "oooooooo"

ba.fill('X', 2);
// ba == "XX"

See also resize().

[since 6.0] QByteArray QByteArray::first(qsizetype n) const

Returns the first n bytes of the byte array.

Note: The behavior is undefined when n < 0 or n > size().

Example:

QByteArray x("Pineapple");
QByteArray y = x.first(4);
// y == "Pine"

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also last(), sliced(), startsWith(), chopped(), chop(), and truncate().

[static, since 5.2] QByteArray QByteArray::fromBase64(const QByteArray &base64, QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding)

Returns a decoded copy of the Base64 array base64, using the options defined by options. If options contains IgnoreBase64DecodingErrors (the default), the input is not checked for validity; invalid characters in the input are skipped, enabling the decoding process to continue with subsequent characters. If options contains AbortOnBase64DecodingErrors, then decoding will stop at the first invalid character.

For example:

QByteArray text = QByteArray::fromBase64("UXQgaXMgZ3JlYXQh");
text.data();            // returns "Qt is great!"

QByteArray::fromBase64("PHA+SGVsbG8/PC9wPg==", QByteArray::Base64Encoding); // returns "<p>Hello?</p>"
QByteArray::fromBase64("PHA-SGVsbG8_PC9wPg==", QByteArray::Base64UrlEncoding); // returns "<p>Hello?</p>"

The algorithm used to decode Base64-encoded data is defined in RFC 4648.

Returns the decoded data, or, if the AbortOnBase64DecodingErrors option was passed and the input data was invalid, an empty byte array.

Note: The fromBase64Encoding() function is recommended in new code.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.2.

See also toBase64() and fromBase64Encoding().

[static, since 5.3] QByteArray QByteArray::fromCFData(CFDataRef data)

Constructs a new QByteArray containing a copy of the CFData data.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also fromRawCFData(), fromRawData(), toRawCFData(), and toCFData().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::fromHex(const QByteArray &hexEncoded)

Returns a decoded copy of the hex encoded array hexEncoded. Input is not checked for validity; invalid characters in the input are skipped, enabling the decoding process to continue with subsequent characters.

For example:

QByteArray text = QByteArray::fromHex("517420697320677265617421");
text.data();            // returns "Qt is great!"

See also toHex().

[static, since 5.3] QByteArray QByteArray::fromNSData(const NSData *data)

Constructs a new QByteArray containing a copy of the NSData data.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also fromRawNSData(), fromRawData(), toNSData(), and toRawNSData().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::fromPercentEncoding(const QByteArray &input, char percent = '%')

Returns a decoded copy of the URI/URL-style percent-encoded input. The percent parameter allows you to replace the '%' character for another (for instance, '_' or '=').

For example:

QByteArray text = QByteArray::fromPercentEncoding("Qt%20is%20great%33");
text.data();            // returns "Qt is great!"

Note: Given invalid input (such as a string containing the sequence "%G5", which is not a valid hexadecimal number) the output will be invalid as well. As an example: the sequence "%G5" could be decoded to 'W'.

See also toPercentEncoding() and QUrl::fromPercentEncoding().

[static, since 5.3] QByteArray QByteArray::fromRawCFData(CFDataRef data)

Constructs a QByteArray that uses the bytes of the CFData data.

The data's bytes are not copied.

The caller guarantees that the CFData will not be deleted or modified as long as this QByteArray object exists.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also fromCFData(), fromRawData(), toRawCFData(), and toCFData().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::fromRawData(const char *data, qsizetype size)

Constructs a QByteArray that uses the first size bytes of the data array. The bytes are not copied. The QByteArray will contain the data pointer. The caller guarantees that data will not be deleted or modified as long as this QByteArray and any copies of it exist that have not been modified. In other words, because QByteArray is an implicitly shared class and the instance returned by this function contains the data pointer, the caller must not delete data or modify it directly as long as the returned QByteArray and any copies exist. However, QByteArray does not take ownership of data, so the QByteArray destructor will never delete the raw data, even when the last QByteArray referring to data is destroyed.

A subsequent attempt to modify the contents of the returned QByteArray or any copy made from it will cause it to create a deep copy of the data array before doing the modification. This ensures that the raw data array itself will never be modified by QByteArray.

Here is an example of how to read data using a QDataStream on raw data in memory without copying the raw data into a QByteArray:

 static const char mydata[] = {
    '\x00', '\x00', '\x03', '\x84', '\x78', '\x9c', '\x3b', '\x76',
    '\xec', '\x18', '\xc3', '\x31', '\x0a', '\xf1', '\xcc', '\x99',
    ...
    '\x6d', '\x5b'
};

QByteArray data = QByteArray::fromRawData(mydata, sizeof(mydata));
QDataStream in(&data, QIODevice::ReadOnly);
...

Warning: A byte array created with fromRawData() is not '\0'-terminated, unless the raw data contains a '\0' byte at position size. While that does not matter for QDataStream or functions like indexOf(), passing the byte array to a function accepting a const char * expected to be '\0'-terminated will fail.

See also setRawData(), data(), and constData().

[static, since 5.3] QByteArray QByteArray::fromRawNSData(const NSData *data)

Constructs a QByteArray that uses the bytes of the NSData data.

The data's bytes are not copied.

The caller guarantees that the NSData will not be deleted or modified as long as this QByteArray object exists.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also fromNSData(), fromRawData(), toRawNSData(), and toNSData().

[static, since 5.4] QByteArray QByteArray::fromStdString(const std::string &str)

Returns a copy of the str string as a QByteArray.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.4.

See also toStdString() and QString::fromStdString().

[since 5.10] char QByteArray::front() const

Returns the first byte in the byte array. Same as at(0).

This function is provided for STL compatibility.

Warning: Calling this function on an empty byte array constitutes undefined behavior.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.10.

See also back(), at(), and operator[]().

[since 5.10] char &QByteArray::front()

Returns a reference to the first byte in the byte array. Same as operator[](0).

This function is provided for STL compatibility.

Warning: Calling this function on an empty byte array constitutes undefined behavior.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.10.

See also back(), at(), and operator[]().

[since 6.0] qsizetype QByteArray::indexOf(QByteArrayView bv, qsizetype from = 0) const

Returns the index position of the start of the first occurrence of the sequence of bytes viewed by bv in this byte array, searching forward from index position from. Returns -1 if no match is found.

Example:

QByteArray x("sticky question");
QByteArrayView y("sti");
x.indexOf(y);               // returns 0
x.indexOf(y, 1);            // returns 10
x.indexOf(y, 10);           // returns 10
x.indexOf(y, 11);           // returns -1

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also lastIndexOf(), contains(), and count().

qsizetype QByteArray::indexOf(char ch, qsizetype from = 0) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns the index position of the start of the first occurrence of the byte ch in this byte array, searching forward from index position from. Returns -1 if no match is found.

Example:

QByteArray ba("ABCBA");
ba.indexOf("B");            // returns 1
ba.indexOf("B", 1);         // returns 1
ba.indexOf("B", 2);         // returns 3
ba.indexOf("X");            // returns -1

See also lastIndexOf() and contains().

[since 6.0] QByteArray &QByteArray::insert(qsizetype i, QByteArrayView data)

Inserts data at index position i and returns a reference to this byte array.

Example:

QByteArray ba("Meal");
ba.insert(1, QByteArrayView("ontr"));
// ba == "Montreal"

For large byte arrays, this operation can be slow (linear time), because it requires moving all the bytes at indexes i and above by at least one position further in memory.

This array grows to accommodate the insertion. If i is beyond the end of the array, the array is first extended with space characters to reach this i.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also append(), prepend(), replace(), and remove().

QByteArray &QByteArray::insert(qsizetype i, const char *s)

Inserts s at index position i and returns a reference to this byte array.

This array grows to accommodate the insertion. If i is beyond the end of the array, the array is first extended with space characters to reach this i.

The function is equivalent to insert(i, QByteArrayView(s))

See also append(), prepend(), replace(), and remove().

QByteArray &QByteArray::insert(qsizetype i, const QByteArray &data)

Inserts data at index position i and returns a reference to this byte array.

This array grows to accommodate the insertion. If i is beyond the end of the array, the array is first extended with space characters to reach this i.

See also append(), prepend(), replace(), and remove().

[since 5.7] QByteArray &QByteArray::insert(qsizetype i, qsizetype count, char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Inserts count copies of byte ch at index position i in the byte array.

This array grows to accommodate the insertion. If i is beyond the end of the array, the array is first extended with space characters to reach this i.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.7.

QByteArray &QByteArray::insert(qsizetype i, char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Inserts byte ch at index position i in the byte array.

This array grows to accommodate the insertion. If i is beyond the end of the array, the array is first extended with space characters to reach this i.

QByteArray &QByteArray::insert(qsizetype i, const char *data, qsizetype len)

This is an overloaded function.

Inserts len bytes, starting at data, at position i in the byte array.

This array grows to accommodate the insertion. If i is beyond the end of the array, the array is first extended with space characters to reach this i.

bool QByteArray::isEmpty() const

Returns true if the byte array has size 0; otherwise returns false.

Example:

QByteArray().isEmpty();         // returns true
QByteArray("").isEmpty();       // returns true
QByteArray("abc").isEmpty();    // returns false

See also size().

[since 5.12] bool QByteArray::isLower() const

Returns true if this byte array contains only lowercase ASCII letters, otherwise returns false.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.12.

See also isUpper() and toLower().

bool QByteArray::isNull() const

Returns true if this byte array is null; otherwise returns false.

Example:

QByteArray().isNull();          // returns true
QByteArray("").isNull();        // returns false
QByteArray("abc").isNull();     // returns false

Qt makes a distinction between null byte arrays and empty byte arrays for historical reasons. For most applications, what matters is whether or not a byte array contains any data, and this can be determined using isEmpty().

See also isEmpty().

[since 5.12] bool QByteArray::isUpper() const

Returns true if this byte array contains only ASCII uppercase letters, otherwise returns false.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.12.

See also isLower() and toUpper().

[since 6.0] QByteArray QByteArray::last(qsizetype n) const

Returns the last n bytes of the byte array.

Note: The behavior is undefined when n < 0 or n > size().

Example:

QByteArray x("Pineapple");
QByteArray y = x.last(5);
// y == "apple"

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also first(), sliced(), endsWith(), chopped(), chop(), and truncate().

[since 6.0] qsizetype QByteArray::lastIndexOf(QByteArrayView bv, qsizetype from = -1) const

Returns the index position of the start of the last occurrence of the sequence of bytes viewed by bv in this byte array, searching backward from index position from. If from is -1 (the default), the search starts from the end of the byte array. Returns -1 if no match is found.

Example:

QByteArray x("crazy azimuths");
QByteArrayView y("az");
x.lastIndexOf(y);           // returns 6
x.lastIndexOf(y, 6);        // returns 6
x.lastIndexOf(y, 5);        // returns 2
x.lastIndexOf(y, 1);        // returns -1

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also indexOf(), contains(), and count().

qsizetype QByteArray::lastIndexOf(char ch, qsizetype from = -1) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns the index position of the start of the last occurrence of byte ch in this byte array, searching backward from index position from. If from is -1 (the default), the search starts at the last byte (at index size() - 1). Returns -1 if no match is found.

Example:

QByteArray ba("ABCBA");
ba.lastIndexOf("B");        // returns 3
ba.lastIndexOf("B", 3);     // returns 3
ba.lastIndexOf("B", 2);     // returns 1
ba.lastIndexOf("X");        // returns -1

See also indexOf() and contains().

QByteArray QByteArray::left(qsizetype len) const

Returns a byte array that contains the first len bytes of this byte array.

If you know that len cannot be out of bounds, use first() instead in new code, because it is faster.

The entire byte array is returned if len is greater than size().

Returns an empty QByteArray if len is smaller than 0.

See also first(), last(), startsWith(), chopped(), chop(), and truncate().

QByteArray QByteArray::leftJustified(qsizetype width, char fill = ' ', bool truncate = false) const

Returns a byte array of size width that contains this byte array padded with the fill byte.

If truncate is false and the size() of the byte array is more than width, then the returned byte array is a copy of this byte array.

If truncate is true and the size() of the byte array is more than width, then any bytes in a copy of the byte array after position width are removed, and the copy is returned.

Example:

QByteArray x("apple");
QByteArray y = x.leftJustified(8, '.');   // y == "apple..."

See also rightJustified().

qsizetype QByteArray::length() const

Same as size().

QByteArray QByteArray::mid(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len = -1) const

Returns a byte array containing len bytes from this byte array, starting at position pos.

If you know that pos and len cannot be out of bounds, use sliced() instead in new code, because it is faster.

If len is -1 (the default), or pos + len >= size(), returns a byte array containing all bytes starting at position pos until the end of the byte array.

See also first(), last(), sliced(), chopped(), chop(), and truncate().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::number(int n, int base = 10)

Returns a byte array containing the printed value of the number n to base base (ten by default). Bases 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9: A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

Example:

int n = 63;
QByteArray::number(n);              // returns "63"
QByteArray::number(n, 16);          // returns "3f"
QByteArray::number(n, 16).toUpper();  // returns "3F"

Note: The format of the number is not localized; the default C locale is used regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also setNum() and toInt().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::number(uint n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toUInt().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::number(long n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toLong().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::number(ulong n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toULong().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::number(qlonglong n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toLongLong().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::number(qulonglong n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toULongLong().

[static] QByteArray QByteArray::number(double n, char f = 'g', int prec = 6)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns a byte array that contains the printed value of n, formatted in format f with precision prec.

Argument n is formatted according to the f format specified, which is g by default, and can be any of the following:

FormatMeaning
eformat as [-]9.9e[+|-]999
Eformat as [-]9.9E[+|-]999
fformat as [-]9.9
guse e or f format, whichever is the most concise
Guse E or f format, whichever is the most concise

With 'e', 'E', and 'f', prec is the number of digits after the decimal point. With 'g' and 'G', prec is the maximum number of significant digits (trailing zeroes are omitted).

QByteArray ba = QByteArray::number(12.3456, 'E', 3);
// ba == 1.235E+01

Note: The format of the number is not localized; the default C locale is used regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also toDouble().

QByteArray &QByteArray::prepend(QByteArrayView ba)

Prepends the byte array view ba to this byte array and returns a reference to this byte array.

This operation is typically very fast (constant time), because QByteArray preallocates extra space at the beginning of the data, so it can grow without reallocating the entire array each time.

Example:

QByteArray x("ship");
QByteArray y("air");
x.prepend(y);
// x == "airship"

This is the same as insert(0, ba).

See also append() and insert().

QByteArray &QByteArray::prepend(char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Prepends the byte ch to this byte array.

[since 5.7] QByteArray &QByteArray::prepend(qsizetype count, char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Prepends count copies of byte ch to this byte array.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.7.

QByteArray &QByteArray::prepend(const char *str)

This is an overloaded function.

Prepends the '\0'-terminated string str to this byte array.

QByteArray &QByteArray::prepend(const char *str, qsizetype len)

This is an overloaded function.

Prepends len bytes starting at str to this byte array. The bytes prepended may include '\0' bytes.

QByteArray &QByteArray::prepend(const QByteArray &ba)

This is an overloaded function.

Prepends ba to this byte array.

void QByteArray::push_back(const QByteArray &other)

This function is provided for STL compatibility. It is equivalent to append(other).

void QByteArray::push_back(char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Same as append(ch).

void QByteArray::push_back(const char *str)

This is an overloaded function.

Same as append(str).

[since 6.0] void QByteArray::push_back(QByteArrayView str)

This is an overloaded function.

Same as append(str).

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

void QByteArray::push_front(const QByteArray &other)

This function is provided for STL compatibility. It is equivalent to prepend(other).

void QByteArray::push_front(char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Same as prepend(ch).

void QByteArray::push_front(const char *str)

This is an overloaded function.

Same as prepend(str).

[since 6.0] void QByteArray::push_front(QByteArrayView str)

This is an overloaded function.

Same as prepend(str).

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

[since 5.6] QByteArray::reverse_iterator QByteArray::rbegin()

Returns a STL-style reverse iterator pointing to the first byte in the byte-array, in reverse order.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.6.

See also begin(), crbegin(), and rend().

[since 5.6] QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator QByteArray::rbegin() const

This is an overloaded function.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.6.

QByteArray &QByteArray::remove(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len)

Removes len bytes from the array, starting at index position pos, and returns a reference to the array.

If pos is out of range, nothing happens. If pos is valid, but pos + len is larger than the size of the array, the array is truncated at position pos.

Example:

QByteArray ba("Montreal");
ba.remove(1, 4);
// ba == "Meal"

Element removal will preserve the array's capacity and not reduce the amount of allocated memory. To shed extra capacity and free as much memory as possible, call squeeze() after the last change to the array's size.

See also insert(), replace(), and squeeze().

[since 5.6] QByteArray::reverse_iterator QByteArray::rend()

Returns a STL-style reverse iterator pointing just after the last byte in the byte-array, in reverse order.

Warning: The returned iterator is invalidated on detachment or when the QByteArray is modified.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.6.

See also end(), crend(), and rbegin().

[since 5.6] QByteArray::const_reverse_iterator QByteArray::rend() const

This is an overloaded function.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.6.

QByteArray QByteArray::repeated(qsizetype times) const

Returns a copy of this byte array repeated the specified number of times.

If times is less than 1, an empty byte array is returned.

Example:

QByteArray ba("ab");
ba.repeated(4);             // returns "abababab"

QByteArray &QByteArray::replace(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len, QByteArrayView after)

Replaces len bytes from index position pos with the byte array after, and returns a reference to this byte array.

Example:

QByteArray x("Say yes!");
QByteArray y("no");
x.replace(4, 3, y);
// x == "Say no!"

See also insert() and remove().

QByteArray &QByteArray::replace(qsizetype pos, qsizetype len, const char *after, qsizetype alen)

This is an overloaded function.

Replaces len bytes from index position pos with alen bytes starting at position after. The bytes inserted may include '\0' bytes.

QByteArray &QByteArray::replace(char before, QByteArrayView after)

This is an overloaded function.

Replaces every occurrence of the byte before with the byte array after.

QByteArray &QByteArray::replace(const char *before, qsizetype bsize, const char *after, qsizetype asize)

This is an overloaded function.

Replaces every occurrence of the bsize bytes starting at before with the asize bytes starting at after. Since the sizes of the strings are given by bsize and asize, they may contain '\0' bytes and do not need to be '\0'-terminated.

[since 6.0] QByteArray &QByteArray::replace(QByteArrayView before, QByteArrayView after)

This is an overloaded function.

Replaces every occurrence of the byte array before with the byte array after.

Example:

QByteArray ba("colour behaviour flavour neighbour");
ba.replace(QByteArray("ou"), QByteArray("o"));
// ba == "color behavior flavor neighbor"

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

QByteArray &QByteArray::replace(char before, char after)

This is an overloaded function.

Replaces every occurrence of the byte before with the byte after.

void QByteArray::reserve(qsizetype size)

Attempts to allocate memory for at least size bytes.

If you know in advance how large the byte array will be, you can call this function, and if you call resize() often you are likely to get better performance.

If in doubt about how much space shall be needed, it is usually better to use an upper bound as size, or a high estimate of the most likely size, if a strict upper bound would be much bigger than this. If size is an underestimate, the array will grow as needed once the reserved size is exceeded, which may lead to a larger allocation than your best overestimate would have and will slow the operation that triggers it.

Warning: reserve() reserves memory but does not change the size of the byte array. Accessing data beyond the end of the byte array is undefined behavior. If you need to access memory beyond the current end of the array, use resize().

The sole purpose of this function is to provide a means of fine tuning QByteArray's memory usage. In general, you will rarely ever need to call this function.

See also squeeze() and capacity().

void QByteArray::resize(qsizetype size)

Sets the size of the byte array to size bytes.

If size is greater than the current size, the byte array is extended to make it size bytes with the extra bytes added to the end. The new bytes are uninitialized.

If size is less than the current size, bytes beyond position size are excluded from the byte array.

Note: While resize() will grow the capacity if needed, it never shrinks capacity. To shed excess capacity, use squeeze().

See also size(), truncate(), and squeeze().

Returns a byte array that contains the last len bytes of this byte array.

If you know that len cannot be out of bounds, use last() instead in new code, because it is faster.

The entire byte array is returned if len is greater than size().

Returns an empty QByteArray if len is smaller than 0.

See also endsWith(), last(), first(), sliced(), chopped(), chop(), and truncate().

QByteArray QByteArray::rightJustified(qsizetype width, char fill = ' ', bool truncate = false) const

Returns a byte array of size width that contains the fill byte followed by this byte array.

If truncate is false and the size of the byte array is more than width, then the returned byte array is a copy of this byte array.

If truncate is true and the size of the byte array is more than width, then the resulting byte array is truncated at position width.

Example:

QByteArray x("apple");
QByteArray y = x.rightJustified(8, '.');    // y == "...apple"

See also leftJustified().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(int n, int base = 10)

Sets the byte array to the printed value of n in base base (ten by default) and returns a reference to the byte array. Bases 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on. For bases other than ten, n is treated as an unsigned integer.

Example:

QByteArray ba;
int n = 63;
ba.setNum(n);           // ba == "63"
ba.setNum(n, 16);       // ba == "3f"

Note: The format of the number is not localized; the default C locale is used regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number() and toInt().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(short n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toShort().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(ushort n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toUShort().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(uint n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toUInt().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(long n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toLong().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(ulong n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toULong().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(qlonglong n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toLongLong().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(qulonglong n, int base = 10)

This is an overloaded function.

See also toULongLong().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(float n, char f = 'g', int prec = 6)

This is an overloaded function.

Sets the byte array to the printed value of n, formatted in format f with precision prec, and returns a reference to the byte array.

Note: The format of the number is not localized; the default C locale is used regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also toFloat().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setNum(double n, char f = 'g', int prec = 6)

This is an overloaded function.

Sets the byte array to the printed value of n, formatted in format f with precision prec, and returns a reference to the byte array.

The format f can be any of the following:

FormatMeaning
eformat as [-]9.9e[+|-]999
Eformat as [-]9.9E[+|-]999
fformat as [-]9.9
guse e or f format, whichever is the most concise
Guse E or f format, whichever is the most concise

With 'e', 'E', and 'f', prec is the number of digits after the decimal point. With 'g' and 'G', prec is the maximum number of significant digits (trailing zeroes are omitted).

Note: The format of the number is not localized; the default C locale is used regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also toDouble().

QByteArray &QByteArray::setRawData(const char *data, qsizetype size)

Resets the QByteArray to use the first size bytes of the data array. The bytes are not copied. The QByteArray will contain the data pointer. The caller guarantees that data will not be deleted or modified as long as this QByteArray and any copies of it exist that have not been modified.

This function can be used instead of fromRawData() to re-use existing QByteArray objects to save memory re-allocations.

See also fromRawData(), data(), and constData().

[since 5.10] void QByteArray::shrink_to_fit()

This function is provided for STL compatibility. It is equivalent to squeeze().

This function was introduced in Qt 5.10.

QByteArray QByteArray::simplified() const

Returns a copy of this byte array that has spacing characters removed from the start and end, and in which each sequence of internal spacing characters is replaced with a single space.

The spacing characters are those for which the standard C++ isspace() function returns true in the C locale; these are the ASCII characters tabulation '\t', line feed '\n', carriage return '\r', vertical tabulation '\v', form feed '\f', and space ' '.

Example:

QByteArray ba("  lots\t of\nwhitespace\r\n ");
ba = ba.simplified();
// ba == "lots of whitespace";

See also trimmed(), QChar::SpecialCharacter, and Spacing Characters.

qsizetype QByteArray::size() const

Returns the number of bytes in this byte array.

The last byte in the byte array is at position size() - 1. In addition, QByteArray ensures that the byte at position size() is always '\0', so that you can use the return value of data() and constData() as arguments to functions that expect '\0'-terminated strings. If the QByteArray object was created from a raw data that didn't include the trailing '\0'-termination byte, then QByteArray doesn't add it automaticall unless a deep copy is created.

Example:

QByteArray ba("Hello");
qsizetype n = ba.size();    // n == 5
ba.data()[0];               // returns 'H'
ba.data()[4];               // returns 'o'
ba.data()[5];               // returns '\0'

See also isEmpty() and resize().

[since 6.0] QByteArray QByteArray::sliced(qsizetype pos, qsizetype n) const

Returns a byte array containing the n bytes of this object starting at position pos.

Note: The behavior is undefined when pos < 0, n < 0, or pos + n > size().

Example:

QByteArray x("Five pineapples");
QByteArray y = x.sliced(5, 4);     // y == "pine"
QByteArray z = x.sliced(5);        // z == "pineapples"

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also first(), last(), chopped(), chop(), and truncate().

[since 6.0] QByteArray QByteArray::sliced(qsizetype pos) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns a byte array containing the bytes starting at position pos in this object, and extending to the end of this object.

Note: The behavior is undefined when pos < 0 or pos > size().

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also first(), last(), sliced(), chopped(), chop(), and truncate().

QList<QByteArray> QByteArray::split(char sep) const

Splits the byte array into subarrays wherever sep occurs, and returns the list of those arrays. If sep does not match anywhere in the byte array, split() returns a single-element list containing this byte array.

void QByteArray::squeeze()

Releases any memory not required to store the array's data.

The sole purpose of this function is to provide a means of fine tuning QByteArray's memory usage. In general, you will rarely ever need to call this function.

See also reserve() and capacity().

[since 6.0] bool QByteArray::startsWith(QByteArrayView bv) const

Returns true if this byte array starts with the sequence of bytes viewed by bv; otherwise returns false.

Example:

QByteArray url("ftp://ftp.qt-project.org/");
if (url.startsWith("ftp:"))
    ...

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

See also endsWith() and first().

bool QByteArray::startsWith(char ch) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if this byte array starts with byte ch; otherwise returns false.

void QByteArray::swap(QByteArray &other)

Swaps byte array other with this byte array. This operation is very fast and never fails.

[since 5.2] QByteArray QByteArray::toBase64(QByteArray::Base64Options options = Base64Encoding) const

Returns a copy of the byte array, encoded using the options options.

QByteArray text("Qt is great!");
text.toBase64();        // returns "UXQgaXMgZ3JlYXQh"

QByteArray text("<p>Hello?</p>");
text.toBase64(QByteArray::Base64Encoding | QByteArray::OmitTrailingEquals);      // returns "PHA+SGVsbG8/PC9wPg"
text.toBase64(QByteArray::Base64Encoding);                                       // returns "PHA+SGVsbG8/PC9wPg=="
text.toBase64(QByteArray::Base64UrlEncoding);                                    // returns "PHA-SGVsbG8_PC9wPg=="
text.toBase64(QByteArray::Base64UrlEncoding | QByteArray::OmitTrailingEquals);   // returns "PHA-SGVsbG8_PC9wPg"

The algorithm used to encode Base64-encoded data is defined in RFC 4648.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.2.

See also fromBase64().

[since 5.3] CFDataRef QByteArray::toCFData() const

Creates a CFData from a QByteArray.

The caller owns the CFData object and is responsible for releasing it.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also toRawCFData(), fromCFData(), fromRawCFData(), and fromRawData().

double QByteArray::toDouble(bool *ok = nullptr) const

Returns the byte array converted to a double value.

Returns an infinity if the conversion overflows or 0.0 if the conversion fails for other reasons (e.g. underflow).

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

QByteArray string("1234.56");
bool ok;
double a = string.toDouble(&ok);   // a == 1234.56, ok == true

string = "1234.56 Volt";
a = str.toDouble(&ok);             // a == 0, ok == false

Warning: The QByteArray content may only contain valid numerical characters which includes the plus/minus sign, the character e used in scientific notation, and the decimal point. Including the unit or additional characters leads to a conversion error.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

This function ignores leading and trailing whitespace.

See also number().

float QByteArray::toFloat(bool *ok = nullptr) const

Returns the byte array converted to a float value.

Returns an infinity if the conversion overflows or 0.0 if the conversion fails for other reasons (e.g. underflow).

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

QByteArray string("1234.56");
bool ok;
float a = string.toFloat(&ok);    // a == 1234.56, ok == true

string = "1234.56 Volt";
a = str.toFloat(&ok);              // a == 0, ok == false

Warning: The QByteArray content may only contain valid numerical characters which includes the plus/minus sign, the character e used in scientific notation, and the decimal point. Including the unit or additional characters leads to a conversion error.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

This function ignores leading and trailing whitespace.

See also number().

[since 5.9] QByteArray QByteArray::toHex(char separator = '\0') const

Returns a hex encoded copy of the byte array.

The hex encoding uses the numbers 0-9 and the letters a-f.

If separator is not '\0', the separator character is inserted between the hex bytes.

Example:

QByteArray macAddress = QByteArray::fromHex("123456abcdef");
macAddress.toHex(':'); // returns "12:34:56:ab:cd:ef"
macAddress.toHex(0);   // returns "123456abcdef"

This function was introduced in Qt 5.9.

See also fromHex().

int QByteArray::toInt(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to an int using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal (base 8); otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

QByteArray str("FF");
bool ok;
int hex = str.toInt(&ok, 16);     // hex == 255, ok == true
int dec = str.toInt(&ok, 10);     // dec == 0, ok == false

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

long QByteArray::toLong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to a long int using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal (base 8); otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

QByteArray str("FF");
bool ok;
long hex = str.toLong(&ok, 16);   // hex == 255, ok == true
long dec = str.toLong(&ok, 10);   // dec == 0, ok == false

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

qlonglong QByteArray::toLongLong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to a long long using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal (base 8); otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

QByteArray QByteArray::toLower() const

Returns a copy of the byte array in which each ASCII uppercase letter converted to lowercase.

Example:

QByteArray x("Qt by THE QT COMPANY");
QByteArray y = x.toLower();
// y == "qt by the qt company"

See also isLower(), toUpper(), and Character Case.

[since 5.3] NSData *QByteArray::toNSData() const

Creates a NSData from a QByteArray.

The NSData object is autoreleased.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also fromNSData(), fromRawNSData(), fromRawData(), and toRawNSData().

QByteArray QByteArray::toPercentEncoding(const QByteArray &exclude = QByteArray(), const QByteArray &include = QByteArray(), char percent = '%') const

Returns a URI/URL-style percent-encoded copy of this byte array. The percent parameter allows you to override the default '%' character for another.

By default, this function will encode all bytes that are not one of the following:

ALPHA ("a" to "z" and "A" to "Z") / DIGIT (0 to 9) / "-" / "." / "_" / "~"

To prevent bytes from being encoded pass them to exclude. To force bytes to be encoded pass them to include. The percent character is always encoded.

Example:

QByteArray text = "{a fishy string?}";
QByteArray ba = text.toPercentEncoding("{}", "s");
qDebug(ba.constData());
// prints "{a fi%73hy %73tring%3F}"

The hex encoding uses the numbers 0-9 and the uppercase letters A-F.

See also fromPercentEncoding() and QUrl::toPercentEncoding().

[since 5.3] CFDataRef QByteArray::toRawCFData() const

Constructs a CFData that uses the bytes of the QByteArray.

The QByteArray's bytes are not copied.

The caller guarantees that the QByteArray will not be deleted or modified as long as this CFData object exists.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also toCFData(), fromRawCFData(), fromCFData(), and fromRawData().

[since 5.3] NSData *QByteArray::toRawNSData() const

Constructs a NSData that uses the bytes of the QByteArray.

The QByteArray's bytes are not copied.

The caller guarantees that the QByteArray will not be deleted or modified as long as this NSData object exists.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.3.

See also fromRawNSData(), fromNSData(), fromRawData(), and toNSData().

short QByteArray::toShort(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to a short using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal; otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal; otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

[since 5.4] std::string QByteArray::toStdString() const

Returns a std::string object with the data contained in this QByteArray.

This operator is mostly useful to pass a QByteArray to a function that accepts a std::string object.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.4.

See also fromStdString() and QString::toStdString().

uint QByteArray::toUInt(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to an unsigned int using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal (base 8); otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

ulong QByteArray::toULong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to an unsigned long int using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal (base 8); otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

qulonglong QByteArray::toULongLong(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to an unsigned long long using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal (base 8); otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

ushort QByteArray::toUShort(bool *ok = nullptr, int base = 10) const

Returns the byte array converted to an unsigned short using base base, which is ten by default. Bases 0 and 2 through 36 are supported, using letters for digits beyond 9; A is ten, B is eleven and so on.

If base is 0, the base is determined automatically using the following rules: If the byte array begins with "0x", it is assumed to be hexadecimal; otherwise, if it begins with "0", it is assumed to be octal; otherwise it is assumed to be decimal.

Returns 0 if the conversion fails.

If ok is not nullptr, failure is reported by setting *ok to false, and success by setting *ok to true.

Note: The conversion of the number is performed in the default C locale, regardless of the user's locale. Use QLocale to perform locale-aware conversions between numbers and strings.

See also number().

QByteArray QByteArray::toUpper() const

Returns a copy of the byte array in which each ASCII lowercase letter converted to uppercase.

Example:

QByteArray x("Qt by THE QT COMPANY");
QByteArray y = x.toUpper();
// y == "QT BY THE QT COMPANY"

See also isUpper(), toLower(), and Character Case.

QByteArray QByteArray::trimmed() const

Returns a copy of this byte array with spacing characters removed from the start and end.

The spacing characters are those for which the standard C++ isspace() function returns true in the C locale; these are the ASCII characters tabulation '\t', line feed '\n', carriage return '\r', vertical tabulation '\v', form feed '\f', and space ' '.

Example:

QByteArray ba("  lots\t of\nwhitespace\r\n ");
ba = ba.trimmed();
// ba == "lots\t of\nwhitespace";

Unlike simplified(), trimmed() leaves internal spacing unchanged.

See also simplified(), QChar::SpecialCharacter, and Spacing Characters.

void QByteArray::truncate(qsizetype pos)

Truncates the byte array at index position pos.

If pos is beyond the end of the array, nothing happens.

Example:

QByteArray ba("Stockholm");
ba.truncate(5);             // ba == "Stock"

See also chop(), resize(), and first().

bool QByteArray::operator!=(const QString &str) const

Returns true if this byte array is not equal to the UTF-8 encoding of str; otherwise returns false.

The comparison is case sensitive.

You can disable this operator by defining QT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII when you compile your applications. You then need to call QString::fromUtf8(), QString::fromLatin1(), or QString::fromLocal8Bit() explicitly if you want to convert the byte array to a QString before doing the comparison.

QByteArray &QByteArray::operator+=(const QByteArray &ba)

Appends the byte array ba onto the end of this byte array and returns a reference to this byte array.

Example:

QByteArray x("free");
QByteArray y("dom");
x += y;
// x == "freedom"

Note: QByteArray is an implicitly shared class. Consequently, if you append to an empty byte array, then the byte array will just share the data held in ba. In this case, no copying of data is done, taking constant time. If a shared instance is modified, it will be copied (copy-on-write), taking linear time.

If the byte array being appended to is not empty, a deep copy of the data is performed, taking linear time.

This operation typically does not suffer from allocation overhead, because QByteArray preallocates extra space at the end of the data so that it may grow without reallocating for each append operation.

See also append() and prepend().

QByteArray &QByteArray::operator+=(char ch)

This is an overloaded function.

Appends the byte ch onto the end of this byte array and returns a reference to this byte array.

QByteArray &QByteArray::operator+=(const char *str)

This is an overloaded function.

Appends the '\0'-terminated string str onto the end of this byte array and returns a reference to this byte array.

bool QByteArray::operator<(const QString &str) const

Returns true if this byte array is lexically less than the UTF-8 encoding of str; otherwise returns false.

The comparison is case sensitive.

You can disable this operator by defining QT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII when you compile your applications. You then need to call QString::fromUtf8(), QString::fromLatin1(), or QString::fromLocal8Bit() explicitly if you want to convert the byte array to a QString before doing the comparison.

bool QByteArray::operator<=(const QString &str) const

Returns true if this byte array is lexically less than or equal to the UTF-8 encoding of str; otherwise returns false.

The comparison is case sensitive.

You can disable this operator by defining QT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII when you compile your applications. You then need to call QString::fromUtf8(), QString::fromLatin1(), or QString::fromLocal8Bit() explicitly if you want to convert the byte array to a QString before doing the comparison.

QByteArray &QByteArray::operator=(const char *str)

This is an overloaded function.

Assigns str to this byte array.

bool QByteArray::operator==(const QString &str) const

Returns true if this byte array is equal to the UTF-8 encoding of str; otherwise returns false.

The comparison is case sensitive.

You can disable this operator by defining QT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII when you compile your applications. You then need to call QString::fromUtf8(), QString::fromLatin1(), or QString::fromLocal8Bit() explicitly if you want to convert the byte array to a QString before doing the comparison.

bool QByteArray::operator>(const QString &str) const

Returns true if this byte array is lexically greater than the UTF-8 encoding of str; otherwise returns false.

The comparison is case sensitive.

You can disable this operator by defining QT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII when you compile your applications. You then need to call QString::fromUtf8(), QString::fromLatin1(), or QString::fromLocal8Bit() explicitly if you want to convert the byte array to a QString before doing the comparison.

bool QByteArray::operator>=(const QString &str) const

Returns true if this byte array is greater than or equal to the UTF-8 encoding of str; otherwise returns false.

The comparison is case sensitive.

You can disable this operator by defining QT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII when you compile your applications. You then need to call QString::fromUtf8(), QString::fromLatin1(), or QString::fromLocal8Bit() explicitly if you want to convert the byte array to a QString before doing the comparison.

char &QByteArray::operator[](qsizetype i)

Returns the byte at index position i as a modifiable reference.

i must be a valid index position in the byte array (i.e., 0 <= i < size()).

Example:

QByteArray ba("Hello, world");
cout << ba[0]; // prints H
ba[7] = 'W';
// ba == "Hello, World"

See also at().

char QByteArray::operator[](qsizetype i) const

This is an overloaded function.

Same as at(i).

Related Non-Members

[since 5.9] quint16 qChecksum(QByteArrayView data, Qt::ChecksumType standard = Qt::ChecksumIso3309)

Returns the CRC-16 checksum of data.

The checksum is independent of the byte order (endianness) and will be calculated accorded to the algorithm published in standard. By default the algorithm published in ISO 3309 (Qt::ChecksumIso3309) is used.

Note: This function is a 16-bit cache conserving (16 entry table) implementation of the CRC-16-CCITT algorithm.

This function was introduced in Qt 5.9.

QByteArray qCompress(const QByteArray &data, int compressionLevel = -1)

Compresses the data byte array and returns the compressed data in a new byte array.

The compressionLevel parameter specifies how much compression should be used. Valid values are between 0 and 9, with 9 corresponding to the greatest compression (i.e. smaller compressed data) at the cost of using a slower algorithm. Smaller values (8, 7, ..., 1) provide successively less compression at slightly faster speeds. The value 0 corresponds to no compression at all. The default value is -1, which specifies zlib's default compression.

See also qUncompress(const QByteArray &data).

QByteArray qCompress(const uchar *data, qsizetype nbytes, int compressionLevel = -1)

This is an overloaded function.

Compresses the first nbytes of data at compression level compressionLevel and returns the compressed data in a new byte array.

QByteArray qUncompress(const QByteArray &data)

Uncompresses the data byte array and returns a new byte array with the uncompressed data.

Returns an empty QByteArray if the input data was corrupt.

This function will uncompress data compressed with qCompress() from this and any earlier Qt version, back to Qt 3.1 when this feature was added.

Note: If you want to use this function to uncompress external data that was compressed using zlib, you first need to prepend a four byte header to the byte array containing the data. The header must contain the expected length (in bytes) of the uncompressed data, expressed as an unsigned, big-endian, 32-bit integer.

See also qCompress().

QByteArray qUncompress(const uchar *data, qsizetype nbytes)

This is an overloaded function.

Uncompresses the first nbytes of data and returns a new byte array with the uncompressed data.

int qsnprintf(char *str, size_t n, const char *fmt, ...)

A portable snprintf() function, calls qvsnprintf.

fmt is the printf() format string. The result is put into str, which is a buffer of at least n bytes.

Warning: Call this function only when you know what you are doing since it shows different behavior on certain platforms. Use QString::asprintf() to format a string instead.

See also qvsnprintf() and QString::asprintf().

int qstrcmp(const char *str1, const char *str2)

A safe strcmp() function.

Compares str1 and str2. Returns a negative value if str1 is less than str2, 0 if str1 is equal to str2 or a positive value if str1 is greater than str2.

If both strings are nullptr, they are deemed equal; otherwise, if either is nullptr, it is treated as less than the other (even if the other is an empty string).

See also qstrncmp(), qstricmp(), qstrnicmp(), Character Case, and QByteArray::compare().

char *qstrcpy(char *dst, const char *src)

Copies all the characters up to and including the '\0' from src into dst and returns a pointer to dst. If src is nullptr, it immediately returns nullptr.

This function assumes that dst is large enough to hold the contents of src.

Note: If dst and src overlap, the behavior is undefined.

See also qstrncpy().

char *qstrdup(const char *src)

Returns a duplicate string.

Allocates space for a copy of src, copies it, and returns a pointer to the copy. If src is nullptr, it immediately returns nullptr.

Ownership is passed to the caller, so the returned string must be deleted using delete[].

int qstricmp(const char *str1, const char *str2)

A safe stricmp() function.

Compares str1 and str2, ignoring differences in the case of any ASCII characters.

Returns a negative value if str1 is less than str2, 0 if str1 is equal to str2 or a positive value if str1 is greater than str2.

If both strings are nullptr, they are deemed equal; otherwise, if either is nullptr, it is treated as less than the other (even if the other is an empty string).

See also qstrcmp(), qstrncmp(), qstrnicmp(), Character Case, and QByteArray::compare().

size_t qstrlen(const char *str)

A safe strlen() function.

Returns the number of characters that precede the terminating '\0', or 0 if str is nullptr.

See also qstrnlen().

int qstrncmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t len)

A safe strncmp() function.

Compares at most len bytes of str1 and str2.

Returns a negative value if str1 is less than str2, 0 if str1 is equal to str2 or a positive value if str1 is greater than str2.

If both strings are nullptr, they are deemed equal; otherwise, if either is nullptr, it is treated as less than the other (even if the other is an empty string or len is 0).

See also qstrcmp(), qstricmp(), qstrnicmp(), Character Case, and QByteArray::compare().

char *qstrncpy(char *dst, const char *src, size_t len)

A safe strncpy() function.

Copies at most len bytes from src (stopping at len or the terminating '\0' whichever comes first) into dst and returns a pointer to dst. Guarantees that dst is '\0'-terminated. If src or dst is nullptr, returns nullptr immediately.

This function assumes that dst is at least len characters long.

Note: If dst and src overlap, the behavior is undefined.

See also qstrcpy().

int qstrnicmp(const char *str1, const char *str2, size_t len)

A safe strnicmp() function.

Compares at most len bytes of str1 and str2, ignoring differences in the case of any ASCII characters.

Returns a negative value if str1 is less than str2, 0 if str1 is equal to str2 or a positive value if str1 is greater than str2.

If both strings are nullptr, they are deemed equal; otherwise, if either is nullptr, it is treated as less than the other (even if the other is an empty string or len is 0).

See also qstrcmp(), qstrncmp(), qstricmp(), Character Case, and QByteArray::compare().

size_t qstrnlen(const char *str, size_t maxlen)

A safe strnlen() function.

Returns the number of characters that precede the terminating '\0', but at most maxlen. If str is nullptr, returns 0.

See also qstrlen().

int qvsnprintf(char *str, size_t n, const char *fmt, va_list ap)

A portable vsnprintf() function. Will call ::vsnprintf(), ::_vsnprintf(), or ::vsnprintf_s depending on the system, or fall back to an internal version.

fmt is the printf() format string. The result is put into str, which is a buffer of at least n bytes.

The caller is responsible to call va_end() on ap.

Warning: Since vsnprintf() shows different behavior on certain platforms, you should not rely on the return value or on the fact that you will always get a 0 terminated string back.

Ideally, you should never call this function but use QString::asprintf() instead.

See also qsnprintf() and QString::asprintf().

bool operator!=(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is not equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator!=(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is not equal to the '\0'-terminated string a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator!=(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if '\0'-terminated string a1 is not equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

const QByteArray operator+(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)

Returns a byte array that is the result of concatenating byte array a1 and byte array a2.

See also QByteArray::operator+=().

const QByteArray operator+(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns a byte array that is the result of concatenating byte array a1 and '\0'-terminated string a2.

const QByteArray operator+(const QByteArray &a1, char a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns a byte array that is the result of concatenating byte array a1 and byte a2.

const QByteArray operator+(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns a byte array that is the result of concatenating '\0'-terminated string a1 and byte array a2.

const QByteArray operator+(char a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns a byte array that is the result of concatenating byte a1 and byte array a2.

bool operator<(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically less than byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator<(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically less than the '\0'-terminated string a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator<(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if '\0'-terminated string a1 is lexically less than byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

QDataStream &operator<<(QDataStream &out, const QByteArray &ba)

Writes byte array ba to the stream out and returns a reference to the stream.

See also Serializing Qt Data Types.

bool operator<=(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically less than or equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator<=(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically less than or equal to the '\0'-terminated string a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator<=(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if '\0'-terminated string a1 is lexically less than or equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator==(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator==(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is equal to the '\0'-terminated string a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator==(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if '\0'-terminated string a1 is equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator>(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically greater than byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator>(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically greater than the '\0'-terminated string a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator>(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if '\0'-terminated string a1 is lexically greater than byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator>=(const QByteArray &a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically greater than or equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator>=(const QByteArray &a1, const char *a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if byte array a1 is lexically greater than or equal to the '\0'-terminated string a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

bool operator>=(const char *a1, const QByteArray &a2)

This is an overloaded function.

Returns true if '\0'-terminated string a1 is lexically greater than or equal to byte array a2; otherwise returns false.

See also QByteArray::compare().

QDataStream &operator>>(QDataStream &in, QByteArray &ba)

Reads a byte array into ba from the stream in and returns a reference to the stream.

See also Serializing Qt Data Types.

Macro Documentation

QByteArrayLiteral(ba)

The macro generates the data for a QByteArray out of the string literal ba at compile time. Creating a QByteArray from it is free in this case, and the generated byte array data is stored in the read-only segment of the compiled object file.

For instance:

QByteArray ba = QByteArrayLiteral("byte array contents");

Using QByteArrayLiteral instead of a double quoted plain C++ string literal can significantly speed up creation of QByteArray instances from data known at compile time.

See also QStringLiteral.

QT_NO_CAST_FROM_BYTEARRAY

Disables automatic conversions from QByteArray to const char * or const void *.

See also QT_NO_CAST_TO_ASCII and QT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII.

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