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Buffer.toString docs != actual #8971

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Buffer.toString docs != actual#8971
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bufferIssues and PRs related to the buffer subsystem.docIssues and PRs related to Node.js documentation.

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@Bonuspunkt
Bonuspunkt
opened on Oct 7, 2016
  • Version: v6.7.0
  • Platform: Win10 x64 v1511

according to the docs

const buf2 = Buffer.from('tést');

// Prints: tés
console.log(buf2.toString('utf8', 0, 3));

the actual output is

té

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  1. addaleax
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    bufferIssues and PRs related to the buffer subsystem.
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    on Oct 7, 2016

  2. addaleax commented on Oct 7, 2016

    @addaleax
    addaleax
    on Oct 7, 2016
    Member

    The start and end indices of .toString() refer to byte offsets in the Buffer, and are not character counts.

    So, when looking at buf2, which contains the bytes 74 c3 a9 73 74, what gets decoded are the first 3 bytes, namely 74 c3 a9, and those correspond to té.

    So, yeah, this is expected behaviour, and the docs are not wrong here either, but they could be a little clearer.

  3. addaleax commented on Oct 7, 2016

    @addaleax
    addaleax
    on Oct 7, 2016
    Member

    Oh, right, sorry, the docs are wrong here. They don’t even use the right buf2 variable in the example.

    (That doesn’t change that returning té is the expected behaviour, though.)

  4. addaleax
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  5. addaleax
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  6. jasnell
    closed this as completedin 366fc7aon Oct 26, 2016
  7. evanlucas
    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 3, 2016

    doc: clarify buffer toString docs.

    a0074e2
  8. MylesBorins
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Nov 17, 2016

    doc: clarify buffer toString docs.

    6ed99a1

    doc: clarify buffer toString docs.

    ae3ce7f
  9. sjarmak
    added a commit that references this issue on Jul 27, 2026

    doc: clarify buffer toString docs.

    366fc7a
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