Convert byte[,] to byte[]

Question

Does anyone know of an efficient way to flatten a 2d array (non-jagged) in C# to a 1d and back again. I know in the back end C# must hold onto it as a 1d array I would just

Answer 1

You can't get a managed byte[] array from a byte[,] without copying it out (not that I know of, anyway).

If you're comfortable with unsafe code you can fix a byte* on the array and I believe that should work:

fixed (byte* ptr = array)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i)
    {
        byte b = ptr[i];
        // Do whatever you need.
    }
}