Converting binary data to string in ruby

I have a string containing byte data.
How can I perform an in-place conversion to ascii string?

From stackoverflow

• You can do so via using base64 which is a fairly universal way.

  require 'base64'
  
  str = Base64.encode64(data)
  

  Brent.Longborough : data needs to be convertible to String for this to work. Try, for example: irb(main):002:0> Base64.encode64(1234) TypeError: can't convert Fixnum into String

• Another way to play with binary data is String#unpack.

  LK : Thanks - unpack('H*') did the job.