Hex to Bytes

Category: Data Conversion & Encoding · Node Type ID: converter-hex-to-bytes

Decodes a hexadecimal string into a raw byte array

Overview

Decodes a hexadecimal string into a raw byte array (Uint8Array). The parser automatically strips an optional leading 0x or 0X prefix as well as common byte separators (spaces, colons :, hyphens -, and newlines) before validating and decoding each pair of hex digits.

An empty string (after stripping prefixes/separators) decodes to a 0-byte Uint8Array. If the cleaned string has an odd number of hex digits or contains any character outside 0-9a-fA-F, execution halts with INVALID_HEX_STRING.

When to Use

Converting hex-encoded keys, ciphertexts, or test vectors coming from a Prompt Input, Bytes to String, or Script node into raw Bytes.
Cleaning and decoding colon- or space-delimited hex dumps pasted from external tools like OpenSSL or Wireshark.

Parameter Configuration

This node has no configurable static parameters in the property inspector; its runtime behavior is determined entirely by its algorithm specification and connected ports.

Port I/O Specification

See Ports & Connections for general wiring rules, data type colors, and dynamic port creation.

Input Ports

Port Nature: Fixed Input Ports (1 total).

Port Name	Port ID	Data Type	Required	Visibility Condition	Description
`Hex In`	`string`	`String`	Required	Always visible	Hexadecimal string to decode (supports optional `0x` prefix and space/colon/hyphen delimiters).

Output Ports

Port Nature: Fixed Output Ports (1 total).

Port Name	Port ID	Data Type	Visibility Condition	Description
`Bytes Out`	`bytes`	`Bytes`	Always visible	Decoded raw byte array (`Uint8Array`).

Error Cases

When any of the following conditions occurs at runtime, this node transitions to an ERROR state and downstream nodes connected to its outputs do not execute.

Error Code	Default Engine Message	Trigger Condition
`INVALID_HEX_LENGTH`	Hex string length is not even	Raised when the hexadecimal string (excluding whitespace and `0x` prefix) has an odd number of digits.
`INVALID_HEX_CHAR`	Hex string contains an invalid character	Raised when the hexadecimal string contains characters outside `0-9`, `a-f`, and `A-F`.

Examples

Decoding a Colon-Separated Hex Key String

Convert "00:01:02:03" into a 4-byte Uint8Array.

Feed the string "00:01:02:03" into the Hex String input port.
The Bytes output port emits the 4-byte array [0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03].