# string.byte() function in Lua programming

LuaServer Side ProgrammingProgramming

The string.byte() function is one of the most widely used Lua string library functions that takes a character or a string as an argument and then converts that character into its internal numeric representations.

The character to internal numeric representations can be easily interpreted from the ASCII table.

## Syntax

string.byte(ch)
or
string.byte(ch,idx)

In the above representation of the string.byte() function, the ch identifier represents the character that we want to convert into a decimal value. Also, the idx identifier represents a character at that index of the string passed as an argument.

Let’s consider a few examples where we will make use of the string.byte() function.

## Example

Consider an example shown below −

Live Demo

s = string.byte("a")
print(s)

## Output

97

We can also pass a string in the argument to the string.byte() function, and if we don’t specify any index then that string will only print the first character’s internal integer representation.

## Example

Consider the example shown below −

Live Demo

s = string.byte("abc")
print(s)

## Output

97

## Example

Let’s consider an example where we will pass an index as the second argument to the string.byte() function. Consider the example shown below −

Live Demo

s = string.byte("abc",2)
print(s)

## Output

98

Note − The indexing of the string starts at 1.

Published on 19-Jul-2021 12:09:47