The Powers That Be - Converting Bytes to a Human Readable String in VBScript
This is a little function I like to call "ReadableBytes". It is so named because I'd often call properties of an object and their values would be returned in bytes. Well this would be fine and dandy but it got hard to tell how big a particular file, folder, or drive was at a glance when it was listed as a series of 5 to 10 (or more) numbers. At first I was doing sloppy math to decode these values on a case by case basis, but got sick of if-thens and weird equations.
It ocurred to me that the scale used to describe a large number of bytes were exactly a power larger than the scale before it. I wrote a formula to convert these values quite easily:
ScaledValue = Bytes / 1024 ^ Nth
Depending on what number you passed as "N" you'd get an appropriate scale (bytes, kilobytes, etc.)
I also googled around a little and found out that there are some pretty funny descriptions of very-very large numbers of bytes. From the Wikipedia.org website:
Well, pretty interesting I think. Now to use this info to create a conversion function:
It ocurred to me that the scale used to describe a large number of bytes were exactly a power larger than the scale before it. I wrote a formula to convert these values quite easily:
ScaledValue = Bytes / 1024 ^ Nth
Depending on what number you passed as "N" you'd get an appropriate scale (bytes, kilobytes, etc.)
I also googled around a little and found out that there are some pretty funny descriptions of very-very large numbers of bytes. From the Wikipedia.org website:
| Popular use and (SI standard meaning) |
Binary prefix standards from IEC 60027-2 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Symbol | Quantity | Name | Symbol | Quantity |
| kilobyte | kB | 210 (103) | kibibyte | KiB | 210 |
| megabyte | MB | 220 (106) | mebibyte | MiB | 220 |
| gigabyte | GB | 230 (109) | gibibyte | GiB | 230 |
| terabyte | TB | 240 (1012) | tebibyte | TiB | 240 |
| petabyte | PB | 250 (1015) | pebibyte | PiB | 250 |
| exabyte | EB | 260 (1018) | exbibyte | EiB | 260 |
| zettabyte | ZB | 270 (1021) | zebibyte | ZiB | 270 |
| yottabyte | YB | 280 (1024) | yobibyte | YiB | 280 |
Well, pretty interesting I think. Now to use this info to create a conversion function:
| Function ReadableBytes(num_bytes) 'This function will convert a value passed in bytes to a more readable 'format with the appropriate two character suffix. Ex: ' 1936022345 would return 1.8 GB ' 43112345 would return 41.12 MB 'This script is provided under the Creative Commons license located 'at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ . It may not 'be used for commercial purposes with out the expressed written consent 'of NateRice.com If num_bytes <= 1023 Then ReadableBytes = num_bytes & " B" 'Bytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 2) And num_bytes >= 1024 Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / 1024, 2) & " KB" 'Kilobytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 3) And num_bytes >= (1024 ^ 2) Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / (1024 ^ 2), 2) & " MB" 'Megabytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 4) And num_bytes >= (1024 ^ 3) Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / (1024 ^ 3), 2) & " GB" 'Gigabytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 5) And num_bytes >= (1024 ^ 4) Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / (1024 ^ 4), 2) & " TB" 'Terabytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 6) And num_bytes >= (1024 ^ 5) Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / (1024 ^ 5), 2) & " PB" 'Petabytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 7) And num_bytes >= (1024 ^ 6) Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / (1024 ^ 6), 2) & " EB" 'Exabytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 8) And num_bytes >= (1024 ^ 7) Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / (1024 ^ 7), 2) & " ZB" 'Zettabytes! ElseIf num_bytes <= (1024 ^ 9) And num_bytes >= (1024 ^ 8) Then ReadableBytes = Round(num_bytes / (1024 ^ 8), 2) & " YB" 'Yottabytes! End If End Function |
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