Futurebasic/Language/Reference/hexstring

HEX$

Syntax

hexString$ = HEX$(<i>expr)

Description

This function returns a string of hexadecimal digits which represent the integer value of expr. The returned string will consist of either 2, 4 or 8 characters, depending on which of DEFSTR BYTE, DEFSTR WORD or DEFSTR LONG is currently in effect. Note that if the value of expr is too large to fit in a hex string of the currently selected size, the string returned by HEX$ will not represent the true value of expr.

In FB, integers are stored in standard "2's-complement" format, and the values returned by HEX$ reflect this storage scheme. You need to keep this in mind when interpreting the results of HEX$, especially when expr is a negative number. For example: HEX$(-3) returns "FD" when DEFSTR BYTE is in effect; "FFFD" when DEFSTR WORD is in effect; and "FFFFFFFD" when DEFSTR LONG is in effect.

Note: To convert a string of hex digits into an integer, use the following technique:

intVar = VAL&("&H" + hexString$)

intVar can be a (signed or unsigned) byte variable, short-integer variable or long-integer variable. Byte variables can handle a hexString$ up to 2 characters in length; short-integer variables can handle a hexString$ up to 4 characters in length; long-integer variables can handle a hexString$ up to 8 characters in length.

See Also

; BIN$; DEF STRBYTE/WORD/LONG; VAL