Read binary file as string in Ruby

Question

I need an easy way to take a tar file and convert it into a string (and vice versa). Is there a way to do this in Ruby? My best attempt was this:

file = File         


        

Answer 1

You can probably encode the tar file in Base64. Base 64 will give you a pure ASCII representation of the file that you can store in a plain text file. Then you can retrieve the tar file by decoding the text back.

You do something like:

require 'base64'

file_contents = Base64.encode64(tar_file_data)

Have look at the Base64 Rubydocs to get a better idea.

Answer 2

on os x these are the same for me... could this maybe be extra "\r" in windows?

in any case you may be better of with:

contents = File.read("e.tgz")
newFile = File.open("ee.tgz", "w")
newFile.write(contents)

Answer 3

how about some open/close safety.

string = File.open('file.txt', 'rb') { |file| file.read }

Answer 4

If you need binary mode, you'll need to do it the hard way:

s = File.open(filename, 'rb') { |f| f.read }

If not, shorter and sweeter is:

s = IO.read(filename)

Answer 5

To avoid leaving the file open, it is best to pass a block to File.open. This way, the file will be closed after the block executes.

contents = File.open('path-to-file.tar.gz', 'rb') { |f| f.read }

Answer 6

Ruby have binary reading

data = IO.binread(path/filaname)

or if less than Ruby 1.9.2

data = IO.read(path/file)