With a block given, calls the block with each remaining byte in the stream; positions the stream at end-of-file; returns +self+: bytes = [] strio = StringIO.new('hello') # Five 1-byte characters. strio.each_byte {|byte| bytes.push(byte) } strio.eof? # => true bytes # => [104, 101, 108, 108, 111] bytes = [] strio = StringIO.new('тест') # Four 2-byte characters. strio.each_byte {|byte| bytes.push(byte) } bytes # => [209, 130, 208, 181, 209, 129, 209, 130] bytes = [] strio = StringIO.new('こんにちは') # Five 3-byte characters. strio.each_byte {|byte| bytes.push(byte) } bytes # => [227, 129, 147, 227, 130, 147, 227, 129, 171, 227, 129, 161, 227, 129, 175] The position in the stream matters: bytes = [] strio = StringIO.new('こんにちは') strio.getc # => "こ" strio.pos # => 3 # 3-byte character was read. strio.each_byte {|byte| bytes.push(byte) } bytes # => [227, 130, 147, 227, 129, 171, 227, 129, 161, 227, 129, 175] If at end-of-file, does not call the block: strio.eof? # => true strio.each_byte {|byte| fail 'Boo!' } strio.eof? # => true With no block given, returns a new {Enumerator}[rdoc-ref:Enumerator].