# string2buffer
> Allocate a [buffer][@stdlib/buffer/ctor] containing a provided string.
## Usage
```javascript
var string2buffer = require( '@stdlib/buffer/from-string' );
```
#### string2buffer( str\[, encoding] )
Allocates a [buffer][@stdlib/buffer/ctor] containing a provided `string`.
```javascript
var buf = string2buffer( 'beep boop' );
// returns
```
The default character encoding is `utf8`. To specify an alternative encoding, provide an `encoding` argument.
```javascript
var buf = string2buffer( '7468697320697320612074c3a97374', 'hex' );
// returns
```
The following `encodings` are supported:
- `utf8` (`utf-8`)
- `hex`
- `binary`
- `ascii`
- `ucs2`
- `base64`
## Examples
```javascript
var randu = require( '@stdlib/random/base/randu' );
var randint = require( '@stdlib/random/base/discrete-uniform' );
var string2buffer = require( '@stdlib/buffer/from-string' );
// Create a buffer from a string:
var buf = string2buffer( 'beep boop bop' );
console.log( buf.toString() );
// Generate random strings...
var i;
var j;
for ( i = 0; i < 100; i++ ) {
j = randint( 0, buf.length );
if ( randu() < 2/buf.length ) {
buf[ j ] = 32; // space
} else {
buf[ j ] = randint( 97, 122 );
}
console.log( buf.toString() );
}
```
[@stdlib/buffer/ctor]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@stdlib/buffer/tree/main/ctor