Convert String to Int (NOT PARSE)

Question

How can i get the numeric representation of a string in C#? To be clear, I do not want the address of the pointer, I do not want to parse an int from a string , I want the numeric representation of the value of the string.

The reason I want this is because I am trying to generate a hash code based on a file path ( path ) and a number ( line ). I essentially want to do this:

String path;
int line;

public override int GetHashCode() {
    return line ^ (int)path;
}

I'm up to suggestions for a better method, but because I'm overriding the Equals() method for the type I'm creating (to check that both object's path and line are the same), I need to reflect that in the override of GetHashCode .

Edit: Obviously this method is bad, that has been pointed out to me and I get that. The answer below is perfect. However, it does not entirely answer my question. I still am curious if there is a simple way to get an integer representation of the value of a string. I know that I could iterate through the string, add the binary representation of that char to a StringBuffer and convert that string to an int , but is there a more clean way?

Edit 2: I'm aware that this is a strange and very limited question. Converting in this method limits the size of the string to 2 char s (2 16 bit char = 1 32 bit int ), but it was the concept I was getting at, and not the practicality. Essentially, the method works, regardless of how obscure and useless it may be.

Answer 1

If all you want is a HashCode, why not get the hashcode of the string too? Every object in .net has a GetHashCode() function:

public override int GetHashCode() {
    return line ^ path.GetHashCode();
}

Answer 2

For the purposes of GetHashCode , you should absolutely call GetHashCode . However, to answer the question as asked (after clarification in comments) here are two options, returning BigInteger (as otherwise you'd only get two characters in before probably overflowing):

static BigInteger ConvertToBigInteger(string input)
{
    byte[] bytes = Encoding.BigEndianUnicode.GetBytes(input);
    // BigInteger constructor expects a little-endian byte array
    Array.Reverse(bytes);
    return new BigInteger(bytes);
}

static BigInteger ConvertToBigInteger(string input)
{
    BigInteger sum = 0;
    foreach (char c in input)
    {
        sum = (sum << 16) + (int) c;
    }
    return sum;
}

(These two approaches give the same result; the first is more efficient, but the second is probably easier to understand.)