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Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
BinaryWrite
  • See Also
    • BinaryRead
    • Write
    • WriteString
    • Export
    • BinarySerialize
    • ByteArray

    • Formats
    • Byte
  • Related Guides
    • Binary Data
    • Network Programming
    • Using Connected Devices
    • Importing and Exporting
    • Files
    • Low-Level File Operations
    • Direct Control of External Processes
    • Systems-Related String Operations
  • Tech Notes
    • Binary Files
    • See Also
      • BinaryRead
      • Write
      • WriteString
      • Export
      • BinarySerialize
      • ByteArray

      • Formats
      • Byte
    • Related Guides
      • Binary Data
      • Network Programming
      • Using Connected Devices
      • Importing and Exporting
      • Files
      • Low-Level File Operations
      • Direct Control of External Processes
      • Systems-Related String Operations
    • Tech Notes
      • Binary Files

BinaryWrite[channel,b]

writes a byte of data, specified as an integer from 0 to 255.

BinaryWrite[channel,{b1,b2,…}]

writes a sequence of bytes.

BinaryWrite[channel,"string"]

writes the raw sequence of characters in a string.

BinaryWrite[channel,ByteArray[…]]

writes the contents of a ByteArray object.

BinaryWrite[channel,x,type]

writes an object of the specified type.

BinaryWrite[channel,{x1,x2,…},type]

writes a sequence of objects of the specified type.

BinaryWrite[channel,{x1,x2,…},{type1,type2,…}]

writes a sequence of objects with a sequence of types.

Details and Options
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Properties & Relations  
Possible Issues  
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
History
Cite this Page
BUILT-IN SYMBOL
  • See Also
    • BinaryRead
    • Write
    • WriteString
    • Export
    • BinarySerialize
    • ByteArray

    • Formats
    • Byte
  • Related Guides
    • Binary Data
    • Network Programming
    • Using Connected Devices
    • Importing and Exporting
    • Files
    • Low-Level File Operations
    • Direct Control of External Processes
    • Systems-Related String Operations
  • Tech Notes
    • Binary Files
    • See Also
      • BinaryRead
      • Write
      • WriteString
      • Export
      • BinarySerialize
      • ByteArray

      • Formats
      • Byte
    • Related Guides
      • Binary Data
      • Network Programming
      • Using Connected Devices
      • Importing and Exporting
      • Files
      • Low-Level File Operations
      • Direct Control of External Processes
      • Systems-Related String Operations
    • Tech Notes
      • Binary Files

BinaryWrite

BinaryWrite[channel,b]

writes a byte of data, specified as an integer from 0 to 255.

BinaryWrite[channel,{b1,b2,…}]

writes a sequence of bytes.

BinaryWrite[channel,"string"]

writes the raw sequence of characters in a string.

BinaryWrite[channel,ByteArray[…]]

writes the contents of a ByteArray object.

BinaryWrite[channel,x,type]

writes an object of the specified type.

BinaryWrite[channel,{x1,x2,…},type]

writes a sequence of objects of the specified type.

BinaryWrite[channel,{x1,x2,…},{type1,type2,…}]

writes a sequence of objects with a sequence of types.

Details and Options

  • BinaryWrite supports the same types as BinaryRead.
  • The output channel used by BinaryWrite can be a single file or pipe, or a list of them, each specified as a string "name", as File["name"], or as an OutputStream object that has been opened with BinaryFormat->True.
  • If any of the specified files or pipes are not already open, BinaryWrite calls OpenWrite to open them.
  • BinaryWrite does not close files and pipes after it finishes writing to them.
  • When a list of types is given, the list is effectively repeated as many times as necessary.
  • The following options can be given:
  • ByteOrdering$ByteOrderingwhat byte ordering to use
  • BinaryWrite[channel,"string"] uses type "Character8", so all characters in "string" should have character codes in the range 0–255.
  • BinaryWrite returns $Failed if it encounters a data element that cannot match the type specified.

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (1)

Create a file with a sequence of bytes:

Close the stream:

Read the first byte from the file:

Close the stream:

Scope  (1)

Write bytes to the file specified using File object:

Properties & Relations  (1)

BinaryWrite can write ByteArray to files:

Use ReadByteArray to read it back in:

Possible Issues  (1)

By default, strings are interpreted as "Character8" and writing characters above 255 will fail:

Specify "Character16" to allow all characters in the Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane:

Use "Character32" to include any character:

Alternatively, convert strings to bytes in a given encoding using StringToByteArray:

See Also

BinaryRead  Write  WriteString  Export  BinarySerialize  ByteArray

Formats: Byte

Function Repository: BinaryWriteAt

Tech Notes

    ▪
  • Binary Files

Related Guides

    ▪
  • Binary Data
  • ▪
  • Network Programming
  • ▪
  • Using Connected Devices
  • ▪
  • Importing and Exporting
  • ▪
  • Files
  • ▪
  • Low-Level File Operations
  • ▪
  • Direct Control of External Processes
  • ▪
  • Systems-Related String Operations

History

Introduced in 2004 (5.1) | Updated in 2016 (11.0) ▪ 2019 (12.0)

Wolfram Research (2004), BinaryWrite, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/BinaryWrite.html (updated 2019).

Text

Wolfram Research (2004), BinaryWrite, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/BinaryWrite.html (updated 2019).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2004. "BinaryWrite." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2019. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/BinaryWrite.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2004). BinaryWrite. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/BinaryWrite.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_binarywrite, author="Wolfram Research", title="{BinaryWrite}", year="2019", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/BinaryWrite.html}", note=[Accessed: 01-December-2025]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_binarywrite, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={BinaryWrite}, year={2019}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/BinaryWrite.html}, note=[Accessed: 01-December-2025]}

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