Convert Byte Array into Bitset - c++

Question

I have a byte array generated by a random number generator. I want to put this into the STL bitset.
Unfortunately, it looks like Bitset only supports the following constructors:
A string of 1's and 0's like "10101011"
An unsigned long. (my byte array will be longer)
The only solution I can think of now is to read the byte array bit by bit and make a string of 1's and 0's. Does anyone have a more efficient solution?

Answer 1

Something like this?
#include <bitset>
#include <climits>
template<size_t numBytes>
std::bitset<numBytes * CHAR_BIT> bytesToBitset(uint8_t *data)
{
std::bitset<numBytes * CHAR_BIT> b;
for(int i = 0; i < numBytes; ++i)
{
uint8_t cur = data[i];
int offset = i * CHAR_BIT;
for(int bit = 0; bit < CHAR_BIT; ++bit)
{
b[offset] = cur & 1;
++offset; // Move to next bit in b
cur >>= 1; // Move to next bit in array
}
}
return b;
}
And an example usage:
int main()
{
std::array<uint8_t, 4> bytes = { 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF };
auto bits = bytesToBitset<bytes.size()>(bytes.data());
std::cout << bits << std::endl;
}

Answer 2

There's a 3rd constructor for bitset<> - it takes no parameters and sets all the bits to 0. I think you'll need to use that then walk through the array calling set() for each bit in the byte array that's a 1.
A bit brute-force, but it'll work. There will be a bit of complexity to convert the byte-index and bit offset within each byte to a bitset index, but it's nothing a little bit of thought (and maybe a run through under the debugger) won't solve. I think it's most likely simpler and more efficient than trying to run the array through a string conversion or a stream.

Answer 3

I have spent a lot of time by writing a reverse function (bitset -> byte/char array). There it is:
bitset<SIZE> data = ...
// bitset to char array
char current = 0;
int offset = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < SIZE; ++i) {
if (data[i]) { // if bit is true
current |= (char)(int)pow(2, i - offset * CHAR_BIT); // set that bit to true in current masked value
} // otherwise let it to be false
if ((i + 1) % CHAR_BIT == 0) { // every 8 bits
buf[offset++] = current; // save masked value to buffer & raise offset of buffer
current = 0; // clear masked value
}
}
// now we have the result in "buf" (final size of contents in buffer is "offset")

Answer 4

Here is my implementation using template meta-programming.
Loops are done in the compile-time.
I took #strager version, modified it in order to prepare for TMP:
changed order of iteration (so that I could make recursion from it);
reduced number of used variables.
Modified version with loops in a run-time:
template <size_t nOfBytes>
void bytesToBitsetRunTimeOptimized(uint8_t* arr, std::bitset<nOfBytes * CHAR_BIT>& result) {
for(int i = nOfBytes - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
for(int bit = 0; bit < CHAR_BIT; ++bit) {
result[i * CHAR_BIT + bit] = ((arr[i] >> bit) & 1);
}
}
}
TMP version based on it:
template<size_t nOfBytes, int I, int BIT> struct LoopOnBIT {
static inline void bytesToBitset(uint8_t* arr, std::bitset<nOfBytes * CHAR_BIT>& result) {
result[I * CHAR_BIT + BIT] = ((arr[I] >> BIT) & 1);
LoopOnBIT<nOfBytes, I, BIT+1>::bytesToBitset(arr, result);
}
};
// stop case for LoopOnBIT
template<size_t nOfBytes, int I> struct LoopOnBIT<nOfBytes, I, CHAR_BIT> {
static inline void bytesToBitset(uint8_t* arr, std::bitset<nOfBytes * CHAR_BIT>& result) { }
};
template<size_t nOfBytes, int I> struct LoopOnI {
static inline void bytesToBitset(uint8_t* arr, std::bitset<nOfBytes * CHAR_BIT>& result) {
LoopOnBIT<nOfBytes, I, 0>::bytesToBitset(arr, result);
LoopOnI<nOfBytes, I-1>::bytesToBitset(arr, result);
}
};
// stop case for LoopOnI
template<size_t nOfBytes> struct LoopOnI<nOfBytes, -1> {
static inline void bytesToBitset(uint8_t* arr, std::bitset<nOfBytes * CHAR_BIT>& result) { }
};
template <size_t nOfBytes>
void bytesToBitset(uint8_t* arr, std::bitset<nOfBytes * CHAR_BIT>& result) {
LoopOnI<nOfBytes, nOfBytes - 1>::bytesToBitset(arr, result);
}
client code:
uint8_t arr[]={0x6A};
std::bitset<8> b;
bytesToBitset<1>(arr,b);

Answer 5

Well, let's be honest, I was bored and started to think there had to be a slightly faster way than setting each bit.
template<int numBytes>
std::bitset<numBytes * CHARBIT bytesToBitset(byte *data)
{
std::bitset<numBytes * CHAR_BIT> b = *data;
for(int i = 1; i < numBytes; ++i)
{
b <<= CHAR_BIT; // Move to next bit in array
b |= data[i]; // Set the lowest CHAR_BIT bits
}
return b;
}
This is indeed slightly faster, at least as long as the byte array is smaller than 30 elements (depending on your optimization-flags passed to compiler). Larger array than that and the time used by shifting the bitset makes setting each bit faster.

Answer 6

you can initialize the bitset from a stream. I can't remember how to wrangle a byte[] into a stream, but...
from http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/bitset.html
bitset<12> x;
cout << "Enter a 12-bit bitset in binary: " << flush;
if (cin >> x) {
cout << "x = " << x << endl;
cout << "As ulong: " << x.to_ulong() << endl;
cout << "And with mask: " << (x & mask) << endl;
cout << "Or with mask: " << (x | mask) << endl;
}