Program to convert given Binary to its equivalent ASCII character string
Last Updated :
23 Jul, 2025
Given a binary string str, the task is to find its equivalent ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character string.
Examples:
Input: str = "0110000101100010"
Output: ab
Explanation: Dividing str into set of 8 bits as follows:
- 01100001 = 97, ASCII value of 97 is 'a'.
- 01100010 = 98, ASCII value of 98 is 'b'.
Therefore, the required ASCII character string is "ab".
Input: str = "10000101100"
Output: Not Possible
Explanation: The given binary string is not a valid string as the number of characters is not a multiple of 8.
Approach: This problem is implementation-based problem. Follow the steps below to solve the given problem.
- At first, check if s is divisible by 8 or not
- If not divisible by 8 print "Not Possible"
- Otherwise, move to the next step
- Declare an empty string to store all the ASCII character string.
- Traverses in a jump of 8 characters and in each step find the decimal equivalent value of the current set of 8 bits.
- Convert the decimal value to its equivalent ASCII character and append it to the res string.
- Return the res string.
Below is the implementation of the above approach:
C++14
// C++ implementation for above approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
// Function to convert binary to decimal
int binaryToDecimal(string n)
{
string num = n;
// Stores the decimal value
int dec_value = 0;
// Initializing base value to 1
int base = 1;
int len = num.length();
for (int i = len - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
// If the current bit is 1
if (num[i] == '1')
dec_value += base;
base = base * 2;
}
// Return answer
return dec_value;
}
// Function to convert binary to ASCII
string setStringtoASCII(string str)
{
// To store size of s
int N = int(str.size());
// If given string is not a
// valid string
if (N % 8 != 0) {
return "Not Possible!";
}
// To store final answer
string res = "";
// Loop to iterate through string
for (int i = 0; i < N; i += 8) {
int decimal_value
= binaryToDecimal((str.substr(i, 8)));
// Apprend the ASCII character
// equivalent to current value
res += char(decimal_value);
}
// Return Answer
return res;
}
// Driver Code
int main()
{
string s = "0110000101100010";
cout << setStringtoASCII(s);
return 0;
}
// Java implementation for above approach
import java.util.*;
class GFG
{
// Function to convert binary to decimal
static int binaryToDecimal(String n)
{
String num = n;
// Stores the decimal value
int dec_value = 0;
// Initializing base value to 1
int base = 1;
int len = num.length();
for (int i = len - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
// If the current bit is 1
if (num.charAt(i) == '1')
dec_value += base;
base = base * 2;
}
// Return answer
return dec_value;
}
// Function to convert binary to ASCII
static String setStringtoASCII(String str)
{
// To store size of s
int N = (str.length());
// If given String is not a
// valid String
if (N % 8 != 0) {
return "Not Possible!";
}
// To store final answer
String res = "";
// Loop to iterate through String
for (int i = 0; i < N; i += 8) {
int decimal_value
= binaryToDecimal((str.substring(i, 8+i)));
// Apprend the ASCII character
// equivalent to current value
res += (char)(decimal_value);
}
// Return Answer
return res;
}
// Driver Code
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String s = "0110000101100010";
System.out.print(setStringtoASCII(s));
}
}
// This code is contributed by 29AjayKumar
# python implementation for above approach
# Function to convert binary to decimal
def binaryToDecimal(n):
num = n
# Stores the decimal value
dec_value = 0
# Initializing base value to 1
base = 1
le = len(num)
for i in range(le - 1, -1, -1):
# If the current bit is 1
if (num[i] == '1'):
dec_value += base
base = base * 2
# Return answer
return dec_value
# Function to convert binary to ASCII
def setStringtoASCII(str):
# To store size of s
N = int(len(str))
# If given string is not a
# valid string
if (N % 8 != 0):
return "Not Possible!"
# To store final answer
res = ""
# Loop to iterate through string
for i in range(0, N, 8):
decimal_value = binaryToDecimal(str[i: i + 8])
# Apprend the ASCII character
# equivalent to current value
res += chr(decimal_value)
# Return Answer
return res
# Driver Code
if __name__ == "__main__":
s = "0110000101100010"
print(setStringtoASCII(s))
# This code is contributed by rakeshsahni
// C# implementation for above approach
using System;
class GFG {
// Function to convert binary to decimal
static int binaryToDecimal(string n)
{
string num = n;
// Stores the decimal value
int dec_value = 0;
// Initializing base value to 1
int base1 = 1;
int len = num.Length;
for (int i = len - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
// If the current bit is 1
if (num[i] == '1')
dec_value += base1;
base1 = base1 * 2;
}
// Return answer
return dec_value;
}
// Function to convert binary to ASCII
static string setStringtoASCII(string str)
{
// To store size of s
int N = (str.Length);
// If given String is not a
// valid String
if (N % 8 != 0) {
return "Not Possible!";
}
// To store final answer
string res = "";
// Loop to iterate through String
for (int i = 0; i < N; i += 8) {
int decimal_value
= binaryToDecimal((str.Substring(i, 8)));
// Apprend the ASCII character
// equivalent to current value
res += (char)(decimal_value);
}
// Return Answer
return res;
}
// Driver Code
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
string s = "0110000101100010";
Console.WriteLine(setStringtoASCII(s));
}
}
// This code is contributed by ukasp.
<script>
// JavaScript implementation for above approach
// Function to convert binary to decimal
function binaryToDecimal(n)
{
let num = n;
// Stores the decimal value
let dec_value = 0;
// Initializing base value to 1
let base = 1;
let len = n.length;
for(let i = len - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
// If the current bit is 1
if (n[i] == '1')
dec_value += base;
base = base * 2;
}
// Return answer
return dec_value;
}
// Function to convert binary to ASCII
function setStringtoASCII(str)
{
// To store size of s
let N = str.length;
// If given string is not a
// valid string
if (N % 8 != 0)
{
return "Not Possible!";
}
// To store final answer
let res = "";
// Loop to iterate through string
for(let i = 0; i < N; i = i + 8)
{
let decimal_value = binaryToDecimal(
(str.slice(i, i + 8)));
// Apprend the ASCII character
// equivalent to current value
res = res + String.fromCharCode(decimal_value);
}
// Return Answer
return res;
}
// Driver Code
let s = "0110000101100010";
document.write(setStringtoASCII(s));
// This code is contributed by Potta Lokesh
</script>
Time Complexity: O(N), as we are using a loop to traverse N times so it will cost us O(N) time.
Auxiliary Space: O(N)
Approach 2: bit shifting:
In this approach, we loop through the binary string in chunks of 8 characters. For each chunk, we create an integer variable asciiValue and loop through the 8 characters in the chunk. For each character, we shift asciiValue one bit to the left and add the value of the character ('0' or '1') to the rightmost bit using the bitwise OR operator. Once we've processed all 8 characters in the chunk, we convert asciiValue to a character using a cast and append it to asciiString. Finally, we print asciiString to the console.
Note that we're using static_cast<char> to convert the integer asciiValue to a character. This is safer than using a C-style cast or a regular cast because it performs compile-time checks and produces a compile error if the conversion is not allowed.
here is the code of above approach:
C++
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string binaryString = "0110000101100010";
string asciiString = "";
for (size_t i = 0; i < binaryString.size(); i += 8) {
int asciiValue = 0;
for (size_t j = 0; j < 8; j++) {
asciiValue <<= 1;
asciiValue |= (binaryString[i + j] - '0');
}
asciiString += static_cast<char>(asciiValue);
}
cout << asciiString << endl;
return 0;
}
import java.util.*;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String binaryString = "0110000101100010";
String asciiString = "";
for (int i = 0; i < binaryString.length(); i += 8) {
int asciiValue = 0;
for (int j = 0; j < 8; j++) {
asciiValue <<= 1;
asciiValue
|= (binaryString.charAt(i + j) - '0');
}
asciiString += (char)asciiValue;
}
System.out.println(asciiString);
}
}
binary_string = "0110000101100010"
ascii_string = ""
for i in range(0, len(binary_string), 8):
ascii_value = 0
for j in range(8):
ascii_value <<= 1
ascii_value |= int(binary_string[i+j])
ascii_string += chr(ascii_value)
print(ascii_string)
using System;
class Program {
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Initialize a binary string
string binaryString = "0110000101100010";
// Initialize an empty string to store the ASCII
// characters
string asciiString = "";
// Loop through the binary string in chunks of 8
// bits (1 byte)
for (int i = 0; i < binaryString.Length; i += 8) {
// Initialize an integer to store the ASCII
// value of each byte
int asciiValue = 0;
// Loop through each bit in the byte and
// calculate its ASCII value
for (int j = 0; j < 8; j++) {
// Shift the bits of asciiValue to the left
// by one position
asciiValue <<= 1;
// OR the last bit of asciiValue with the
// current bit of binaryString
asciiValue |= (binaryString[i + j] - '0');
}
// Convert the ASCII value to its corresponding
// character and add it to asciiString
asciiString += Convert.ToChar(asciiValue);
}
// Print out the resulting ASCII string
Console.WriteLine(asciiString);
}
}
const binaryString = "0110000101100010";
let asciiString = "";
for (let i = 0; i < binaryString.length; i += 8) {
let asciiValue = 0;
for (let j = 0; j < 8; j++) {
asciiValue <<= 1;
asciiValue |= parseInt(binaryString[i+j], 10);
}
asciiString += String.fromCharCode(asciiValue);
}
console.log(asciiString);
Output
ab
Time Complexity: O(N), where n is the number of elements in the input array.
Auxiliary Space: O(N)
Similar Reads
Basics & Prerequisites
Data Structures
Array Data Structure GuideIn this article, we introduce array, implementation in different popular languages, its basic operations and commonly seen problems / interview questions. An array stores items (in case of C/C++ and Java Primitive Arrays) or their references (in case of Python, JS, Java Non-Primitive) at contiguous
3 min read
String in Data StructureA string is a sequence of characters. The following facts make string an interesting data structure.Small set of elements. Unlike normal array, strings typically have smaller set of items. For example, lowercase English alphabet has only 26 characters. ASCII has only 256 characters.Strings are immut
2 min read
Hashing in Data StructureHashing is a technique used in data structures that efficiently stores and retrieves data in a way that allows for quick access. Hashing involves mapping data to a specific index in a hash table (an array of items) using a hash function. It enables fast retrieval of information based on its key. The
2 min read
Linked List Data StructureA linked list is a fundamental data structure in computer science. It mainly allows efficient insertion and deletion operations compared to arrays. Like arrays, it is also used to implement other data structures like stack, queue and deque. Here’s the comparison of Linked List vs Arrays Linked List:
2 min read
Stack Data StructureA Stack is a linear data structure that follows a particular order in which the operations are performed. The order may be LIFO(Last In First Out) or FILO(First In Last Out). LIFO implies that the element that is inserted last, comes out first and FILO implies that the element that is inserted first
2 min read
Queue Data StructureA Queue Data Structure is a fundamental concept in computer science used for storing and managing data in a specific order. It follows the principle of "First in, First out" (FIFO), where the first element added to the queue is the first one to be removed. It is used as a buffer in computer systems
2 min read
Tree Data StructureTree Data Structure is a non-linear data structure in which a collection of elements known as nodes are connected to each other via edges such that there exists exactly one path between any two nodes. Types of TreeBinary Tree : Every node has at most two childrenTernary Tree : Every node has at most
4 min read
Graph Data StructureGraph Data Structure is a collection of nodes connected by edges. It's used to represent relationships between different entities. If you are looking for topic-wise list of problems on different topics like DFS, BFS, Topological Sort, Shortest Path, etc., please refer to Graph Algorithms. Basics of
3 min read
Trie Data StructureThe Trie data structure is a tree-like structure used for storing a dynamic set of strings. It allows for efficient retrieval and storage of keys, making it highly effective in handling large datasets. Trie supports operations such as insertion, search, deletion of keys, and prefix searches. In this
15+ min read
Algorithms
Searching AlgorithmsSearching algorithms are essential tools in computer science used to locate specific items within a collection of data. In this tutorial, we are mainly going to focus upon searching in an array. When we search an item in an array, there are two most common algorithms used based on the type of input
2 min read
Sorting AlgorithmsA Sorting Algorithm is used to rearrange a given array or list of elements in an order. For example, a given array [10, 20, 5, 2] becomes [2, 5, 10, 20] after sorting in increasing order and becomes [20, 10, 5, 2] after sorting in decreasing order. There exist different sorting algorithms for differ
3 min read
Introduction to RecursionThe process in which a function calls itself directly or indirectly is called recursion and the corresponding function is called a recursive function. A recursive algorithm takes one step toward solution and then recursively call itself to further move. The algorithm stops once we reach the solution
14 min read
Greedy AlgorithmsGreedy algorithms are a class of algorithms that make locally optimal choices at each step with the hope of finding a global optimum solution. At every step of the algorithm, we make a choice that looks the best at the moment. To make the choice, we sometimes sort the array so that we can always get
3 min read
Graph AlgorithmsGraph is a non-linear data structure like tree data structure. The limitation of tree is, it can only represent hierarchical data. For situations where nodes or vertices are randomly connected with each other other, we use Graph. Example situations where we use graph data structure are, a social net
3 min read
Dynamic Programming or DPDynamic Programming is an algorithmic technique with the following properties.It is mainly an optimization over plain recursion. Wherever we see a recursive solution that has repeated calls for the same inputs, we can optimize it using Dynamic Programming. The idea is to simply store the results of
3 min read
Bitwise AlgorithmsBitwise algorithms in Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) involve manipulating individual bits of binary representations of numbers to perform operations efficiently. These algorithms utilize bitwise operators like AND, OR, XOR, NOT, Left Shift, and Right Shift.BasicsIntroduction to Bitwise Algorit
4 min read
Advanced
Segment TreeSegment Tree is a data structure that allows efficient querying and updating of intervals or segments of an array. It is particularly useful for problems involving range queries, such as finding the sum, minimum, maximum, or any other operation over a specific range of elements in an array. The tree
3 min read
Pattern SearchingPattern searching algorithms are essential tools in computer science and data processing. These algorithms are designed to efficiently find a particular pattern within a larger set of data. Patten SearchingImportant Pattern Searching Algorithms:Naive String Matching : A Simple Algorithm that works i
2 min read
GeometryGeometry is a branch of mathematics that studies the properties, measurements, and relationships of points, lines, angles, surfaces, and solids. From basic lines and angles to complex structures, it helps us understand the world around us.Geometry for Students and BeginnersThis section covers key br
2 min read
Interview Preparation
Practice Problem