Why does a variable of blob type, when printed gives out it's size?

Question

String str = 'myString';
Blob b = Blob.valueOf(str);
System.debug(b);
System.debug(b.size());
System.debug(str);

Here if I print str then the value of str(I believe it is usingvalueOf()method explicitly) is printed but when I print b then the it returns the size, why? If I want to know the value of blob(binary data for the same) then how can I extract that?

Answer 1

Use EncodingUtil.base64Encode for the contains for the Blob. Refer EncodingUtil Class

String str = 'myString';
Blob b = Blob.valueOf(str);
System.debug(b); //it returns Blob[8]
String base64String = EncodingUtil.base64Encode(b);

System.debug('encoded string=' + base64String); //it returns bXlTdHJpbmc=

System.debug('decoded string=' + EncodingUtil.base64Decode(base64String).toString()); //it returns myString