---
title: Work with bytes types
description: A bytes type represents a sequence of byte values. Learn how to work with bytes data types in Flux.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/flux/v0/data-types/basic/bytes/
estimated_tokens: 1570
product: Flux
version: v0
---

# Work with bytes types

A **bytes** type represents a sequence of byte values.

**Type name**: `bytes`

-   [Bytes syntax](#bytes-syntax)
-   [Convert a column to bytes](#convert-a-column-to-bytes)
-   [Include the string representation of bytes in a table](#include-the-string-representation-of-bytes-in-a-table)

## Bytes syntax

Flux does not provide a bytes literal syntax. Use the [`bytes()` function](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/bytes/) to convert a **string** into bytes.

```js
bytes(v: "hello")
// Returns [104 101 108 108 111]

```

Only string types can be converted to bytes.

## Convert strings to bytes

Use `bytes()` or `hex.bytes()` to convert strings to bytes.

-   [`bytes()`](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/bytes/): Convert a string to bytes
-   [`hex.bytes()`](/flux/v0/stdlib/contrib/bonitoo-io/hex/bytes/): Decode hexadecimal value and convert it to bytes.

#### Convert a hexadecimal string to bytes

```js
import "contrib/bonitoo-io/hex"

hex.bytes(v: "FF5733")
// Returns [255 87 51] (bytes)

```

## Include the string representation of bytes in a table

Use [`display()`](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/display/) to return the string representation of bytes and include it as a column value. `display()` represents bytes types as a string of lowercase hexadecimal characters prefixed with `0x`.

```js
import "sampledata"

sampledata.string()
    |> map(fn: (r) => ({r with _value: display(v: bytes(v: r._value))}))
```

#### Output

| tag | _time | _value (string) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| t1 | 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z | 0x736d706c5f673971637a73 |
| t1 | 2021-01-01T00:00:10Z | 0x736d706c5f306d6776396e |
| t1 | 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 0x736d706c5f706877363634 |
| t1 | 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 0x736d706c5f6775767a7934 |
| t1 | 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 0x736d706c5f357633636365 |
| t1 | 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 0x736d706c5f7339666d6779 |

| tag | _time | _value (string) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| t2 | 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z | 0x736d706c5f623565696461 |
| t2 | 2021-01-01T00:00:10Z | 0x736d706c5f6575346f7870 |
| t2 | 2021-01-01T00:00:20Z | 0x736d706c5f356737747a34 |
| t2 | 2021-01-01T00:00:30Z | 0x736d706c5f736f78317574 |
| t2 | 2021-01-01T00:00:40Z | 0x736d706c5f77666d373537 |
| t2 | 2021-01-01T00:00:50Z | 0x736d706c5f64746e326276 |

#### Related

-   [bytes() function](/flux/v0/stdlib/universe/bytes/)
-   [hex.bytes() function](/flux/v0/stdlib/contrib/bonitoo-io/hex/bytes/)

[basic types](/flux/v0/tags/basic-types/) [data types](/flux/v0/tags/data-types/)