Binary string to cpp_int

[aaangeletakis]

Hello, I noticed boost multiprecision does not have a binary string to decimal converter, so I made one. Hope you enjoy!

// credit: Alexios A Angel
// C++ program to convert binary to decimal
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/multiprecision/cpp_int.hpp>

/******************************************************
 * Function : cpp_int bin_2_dec(const std::string_view& num)
 * Input    : A string of ones and zeros
 * Output   : cpp_int
 ******************************************************
 * Read digits left to right
 *  Ex.
 *                 MSB            LSB
 *               { '1', '1', '1', '0' }
 *   str index:     0    1    2    3
 *   bin index      3    2    1    0
 *
 *   The bit index is inverse (displayed above) to the
 *   digits in the string, so the algorithm will be
 *
 *   ┌──┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 *   │1 │unsigned int bin_2_dec(const std::string_view& str)    │
 *   │2 │{                                                      │
 *   │3 │   unsigned int dec_value = 0;                         │
 *   │4 │   int          len       = str.size();                │
 *   │5 │   int          bin_index = len - 1;                   │
 *   │6 │   int          str_index = 0;                         │
 *   │7 │                                                       │
 *   │8 │   for(; str_index < len; ++str_index, --bin_index){   │
 *   │9 │      dec_value |= (str[str_index] - '0') << bin_index;│
 *   │10│   }                                                   │
 *   │11│   return dec_value;                                   │
 *   │12│}                                                      │
 *   └──┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 *   You could say we are converting Little endian to Big endian. 
 *   Unfortunately, if there are more than sizeof(int) digits in the string than the shift in Line 9
 *   will overflow. In order to get around this in boost mp we 
 *   use boost::multiprecision::bit_set
 */

//change std::string_view to std::span<const char> if
//number of digits is greater than std::string_view{}.max_size()
boost::multiprecision::cpp_int bin_2_dec(const std::string_view& num)
{

    boost::multiprecision::cpp_int dec_value = 0;
    auto cptr = num.data();
    auto len  = num.size();
    //check if big enough to have 0b postfix
    if(num.size() > 2){
        //check if 2nd character is the 'b' binary postfix
        //skip over it & adjust length accordingly if it is
        if(num[1] == 'b' || num[1] == 'B'){
            cptr += 2;
            len  -= 2;
        }
    }

    //change i's type to cpp_int if the number of digits is greater
    //than std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max()
    for (size_t i = len - 1; 0 <= i; ++cptr, --i) {
        if(*cptr == '1'){
            boost::multiprecision::bit_set(/*.val = */ dec_value, /*.pos = */ i);
        }
    }
    return dec_value;
}

// Driver program to test above function
int main()
{
                                  //266 bits
    std::cout << bin_2_dec(/*.num = */"0b11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111"
                                      "1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111"
                                      "1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111"
                                      "1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111") << '\n';
}

[ckormanyos]

This is an interesting post. Boost.Multiprecision is transitioning to C++11 for the next release. Literal binary strings, if memory serves, arrived in C++14. Boost.Multiprecision is, however, not strictly tied to that exact language evolutionary step.

Does auto-detect of binary-string-to-multiprecision type make sense? And if so, for which (or all) or our backends?
Any interest in digit separators, or is this a separate issue altogether?

[jzmaddock]

There are really two features here:

• iostream support for binary strings (which isn't in C++14 in fact, but no matter).
• Literal/constexpr support via user defined literals.

The former is valid for all integer backends, the latter only for cpp_int, and need some hairy-scary modification to the existing user-defined-literal code ('tis horrible to write).

For iostream code, it should really be possible to write it in backend-agnostic format.

While we're at it, we should support ' separators in numbers as well.

[ckormanyos]

There are really two features here

Indeed.
This seems like a larger operation. Points have been noted for potential future handling of this issue.

[aaangeletakis]

I would suggest it be based on std::bitset as it covers both of those requirements @jzmaddock .

#include <iostream>
#include <bitset>

int main(void)
{
    constexpr unsigned int myNum = 3;
    constexpr std::bitset< sizeof(myNum) * 8 > bits(myNum);
    std::cout << bits << std::endl;
    return 0;
}
//Compiled with -std=c++11
//Output: 00000000000000000000000000000011

As for arbitrary size literals, we can base it off of boost::dynamic_bitset

#include <iostream>
#include <boost/dynamic_bitset.hpp>

int main(void)
{
    unsigned int myNum = 3;
    boost::dynamic_bitset<> bits(sizeof(myNum) * 8, myNum);
    std::cout << bits << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

https://godbolt.org/z/PK3dxY

[aaangeletakis]

Forgive my handwriting and spelling, but I believe an std::bin for binary strings support would look something like this:

[everdrone]

Would love to have the octal 0o123 as well! thanks for the code!

[jzmaddock]

Would love to have the octal 0o123 as well! thanks for the code!

Octal has always been supported, but it's 0123, there's no "o" letter in C++ octal strings.