java - Why i need to use Base64 in this encryption -

i see encryption in java.in generate secret key have

 keygenerator keygen = keygenerator.getinstance("des");  key secretkey = keygen.generatekey();   byte[] keybytes = secretkey.getencoded()  key secretkey = keygen.generatekey();   byte[] key = secretkey.getencoded();   byte[] encodedkey=base64.encodebase64(key );   string keytext = new string(encodedkey); 

my question why need of using base64.encodebase64(key). problem if use directly

string keytext = new string(key); 

i confusing.please me.thanks in advance...

not every sequence of bytes represents valid string: you need know character encoding in order interpret sequence of bytes string. since java's char 16-bit, random sequence of bytes can end representing string invalid code points in it. using base-64 encoding fixes problem ensuring elements valid characters [a-za-z0-9+/] range.