What's up with this reversing bit order function? - c

I'm rather ashamed to admit that I don't know as much about bits and bit manipulation as I probably should. I tried to fix that this weekend by writing some 'reverse the order of bits' and 'count the ON bits' functions. I took an example from here but when I implemented it as below, I found I had to be looping while < 29. If I loop while < 32 (as in the example) Then when I try to print the integer (using a printBits function i've written) I seem to be missing the first 3 bits. This makes no sense to me, can someone help me out?
Thanks for everyone's help, I've added comments to show changes I've made.
int reverse(int n)
{
int r = 0;
int i = 0;
for(i = 0; i < 29; i++) //Should be i < 32
{
r = (r << 1) + (n & 1); //| instead of + to make it obvious I'm handling bits
n >>=1;
}
return r;
}
Here is my printBits function:
void printBits(int n)
{
int mask = 0X10000000; //unsigned int mask = 0X80000000;
while (mask)
{
if (mask & n)
{
printf("1");
}
else
{
printf("0");
}
mask >>= 1;
}
printf("\n");
}
And a working? reverse function
int reverse2(int n)
{
int r = n;
int s = sizeof(n) * 7; // int s = (sizeof(n) * 8) -1
for (n >>= 1; n; n >>=1)
{
r <<=1;
r |= n & 1;
s--;
r <<= s;
return r;
}

int mask = 0X10000000;
puts a 1 in bit 28. You want 0X80000000.

You have:
int mask = 0x10000000;
There are two problems here. You don't have the high bit set, and if you did, it still (probably) wouldn't work, as your compiler would be using arithmetic shift on a signed int.
You want to change your mask to:
unsigned int mask = 0x80000000;
For arithmetic shift, shifting 0x80000000 right will never become zero, as the sign bit will be magically extended into the other bits. See here for more details on arithmetic shift.

Print Bits is wrong, its 0x80000000 not 0x10000000.
>>> bin (0x80000000)
'0b10000000000000000000000000000000'
>>> bin (0x10000000)
'0b10000000000000000000000000000'
See 0x1... doesnt set the highest bit.

Instead of +, you should use | (bitwise or). And you should use < 32.

As written, this will reverse the lower 29 bits of n into r. The top three bits of n will be left in n (shifted down 29 bits) and not returned.
I would suspect a problem with your printBits function if you see something else.
edit
Your printBits function prints the lower 29 bits of n, so it all makes sense.

Related

Using Bitwise Operators to get Bit Values in C

I am writing a program in C where I am comparing two bytes of data, and then seeing if the bytes are different, and if so, at which bits.
This is what I have so far:
int var1 = 81; //Binary: 0101 0001
int var2 = 193; //Binary: 1100 0001
int diff = var1 ^ var2; //diff = 1001 0000 / 144
Basically I know how to use the XOR bitwise operator to see which bits are different between the two variables, but from here I don't know how to use diff to figure out which bits are the differences. For example, in my above code I'd want to use diff to output "Bit 5 and Bit 8 are different".
You can use a for loop to get that idea and make bitwise AND with 1 properly left shifted to get the set bits positions
for(size_t i = 0; i < sizeof(int)*8; i++){
if( diff & (1U << i))
printf("%zu is different\n",i+1);
}
Far easier to start with unsigned types when doing bit manipulations.
As #coderredoc inquired about solutions across various platforms, even uncommon ones:
Using int:
When int diff is negative, conversion to an unsigned (via masking with an unsigned) may change its bit pattern.
An int may have more than 8 bits per "byte". Diminishes correctness of sizeof(int)*8.
Various integer types may have padding (rare). Diminishes correctness of sizeof(int)*CHAR_BIT.
// OP wants to report first bit index as 1. 0 is more common.
#define BIT_REPORT_OFFSET 0
int bit_position = 0;
int mask;
do {
mask = 1 << bit_position;
if (diff & mask) {
printf("Bit %d\n", bit_position + BIT_REPORT_OFFSET);
}
bit_position++;
} while (mask < INT_MAX/2);
if (diff < 0) {
printf("Bit %d\n", bit_position + BIT_REPORT_OFFSET);
}
For maximum portability, avoid changing types, changing the value of diff and use constants from <limits.h> rather than compute them.
use unsigned int instead of int; then you can use
for (unsigned int pos = 0; diff; ++pos) {
if (diff & 1)
printf("difference in pos %u\n", pos);
diff >>= 1;
}
or
while (diff) {
int pos = ffs(diff);
printf("difference in pos %d\n", pos);
diff &= ~(1u << pos);
}
To get the different bits position, lets say you have 4 byte integer
for(int bit_index = sizeof(diff) - 1; bit_index >= 0;bit_index-- ) {
if((diff >> bit_index & 1) == 1 ){ /* if particular bit is 1, that bit_index value you can use */
printf("[%d] bit is different or 1 \n",bit_index);
}

How to see if the two's complement of a number x can be represented in n number of bits

fitsBits - return 1 if x can be represented as an
n-bit, two's complement integer.
1 <= n <= 32
Examples: fitsBits(5,3) = 0, fitsBits(-4,3) = 1
Legal ops: ! ~ & ^ | + << >>
My code is the following:
int fitsBits(int x, int n) {
int twos = ~x + 1; //two's complement
int ans;
ans = (twos >> (n);
ans = !ans;
return ans;
}
Working it on paper, it seems to work correctly but it fails when actually tested and I'm not sure why.
I'm assuming you are working on a 2s complement machine (vice sign-magnitude or some other kind of arithmetic) and need to avoid loops and conditionals as well. This is clearly some kind of puzzle, so let's not worry about portability and assume 32-bit ints.
If the value is positive, all bits from n-1 through the highest order bit of the int must be zeros. If the value is negative, the same bits must be ones. So one approach is to check those bits for the correct value.
This is equivalent to checking whether x >> (~0+n) is all zeros if x is positive and all ones otherwise. It "shifts out" the bits that are free to have any value.
We can also construct a mask that's all zeros if x is positive, else ones, with x >> 31.
Finally, we can check equality of any ints a and b using !(a ^ b).
Putting all this together, you'd get:
int fitBits(int val, int nbits) {
return !((val >> 31) ^ (val >> (~0 + nbits)));
}
You want the log base 2.
#include <stdio.h>
int fitsBits(unsigned int v, unsigned int n) {
unsigned int r = 0; // lg(v)
while (v >>= 1) {
r++;
}
if(r >= n) return 1;
return 0;
}
int main () {
printf(" 5,3 => %d\n", fitsBits( 5,3));
printf(" -4,3 => %d\n", fitsBits(-4,3));
}
output:
5,3 => 0
-4,3 => 1

unsigned to hex digit

I got a problem that says: Form a character array based on an unsigned int. Array will represent that int in hexadecimal notation. Do this using bitwise operators.
So, my ideas is the following: I create a mask that has 1's for its 4 lowest value bits.
I push the bits of the given int by 4 to the right and use & on that int and mask. I repeat until (int != 0). My question is: when I get individual hex digits (packs of 4 bits), how do I convert them to a char? For example, I get:
x & mask = 1101(2) = 13(10) = D(16)
Is there a function to convert an int to hex representation, or do I have to use brute force with switch statement or whatever else?
I almost forgot, I am doing this in C :)
Here is what I mean:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define BLOCK 4
int main() {
unsigned int x, y, i, mask;
char a[4];
printf("Enter a positive number: ");
scanf("%u", &x);
for (i = sizeof(usnsigned int), mask = ~(~0 << 4); x; i--, x >>= BLOCK) {
y = x & mask;
a[i] = FICTIVE_NUM_TO_HEX_DIGIT(y);
}
print_array(a);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
You are almost there. The simplest method to convert an integer in the range from 0 to 15 to a hexadecimal digit is to use a lookup table,
char hex_digits[] = "0123456789ABCDEF";
and index into that,
a[i] = hex_digits[y];
in your code.
Remarks:
char a[4];
is probably too small. One hexadecimal digit corresponds to four bits, so with CHAR_BIT == 8, you need up to 2*sizeof(unsigned) chars to represent the number, generally, (CHAR_BIT * sizeof(unsigned int) + 3) / 4. Depending on what print_array does, you may need to 0-terminate a.
for (i = sizeof(usnsigned int), mask = ~(~0 << 4); x; i--, x >>= BLOCK)
initialising i to sizeof(unsigned int) skips the most significant bits, i should be initialised to the last valid index into a (except for possibly the 0-terminator, then the penultimate valid index).
The mask can more simply be defined as mask = 0xF, that has the added benefit of not invoking undefined behaviour, which
mask = ~(~0 << 4)
probably does. 0 is an int, and thus ~0 is one too. On two's complement machines (that is almost everything nowadays), the value is -1, and shifting negative integers left is undefined behaviour.
char buffer[10] = {0};
int h = 17;
sprintf(buffer, "%02X", h);
Try something like this:
char hex_digits[] = "0123456789ABCDEF";
for (i = 0; i < ((sizeof(unsigned int) * CHAR_BIT + 3) / 4); i++) {
digit = (x >> (sizeof(unsigned int) * CHAR_BIT - 4)) & 0x0F;
x = x << 4;
a[i] = hex_digits[digit];
}
Ok, this is where I got:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define BLOCK 4
void printArray(char*, int);
int main() {
unsigned int x, mask;
int size = sizeof(unsigned int) * 2, i;
char a[size], hexDigits[] = "0123456789ABCDEF";
for (i = 0; i < size; i++)
a[i] = 0;
printf("Enter a positive number: ");
scanf("%u", &x);
for (i = size - 1, mask = ~(~0 << 4); x; i--, x >>= BLOCK) {
a[i] = hexDigits[x & mask];
}
printArray(a, size);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
void printArray(char a[], int n) {
int i;
for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
printf("%c", a[i]);
putchar('\n');
}
I have compiled, it runs and it does the job correctly. I don't know... Should I be worried that this problem was a bit hard for me? At faculty, during exams, we must write our code by hand, on a piece of paper... I don't imagine I would have done this right.
Is there a better (less complicated) way to do this problem? Thank you all for help :)
I would consider the impact of potential padding bits when shifting, as shifting by anything equal to or greater than the number of value bits that exist in an integer type is undefined behaviour.
Perhaps you could terminate the string first using: array[--size] = '\0';, write the smallest nibble (hex digit) using array[--size] = "0123456789ABCDEF"[value & 0x0f], move onto the next nibble using: value >>= 4, and repeat while value > 0. When you're done, return array + size or &array[size] so that the caller knows where the hex sequence begins.

Fastest way to calculate possible values of unsigned int with N unreliable bits?

Given an unsigned int A (32 bit), and another unsigned int B, where B's binary form denotes the 10 "least reliable" bits of A, what is the fastest way to expand all 1024 potential values of A? I'm looking to do this in C.
E.g uint B is guaranteed to always have 10 1's and 22 0's in it's binary form (10 least reliable bits).
For example, let's say
A = 2323409845
B = 1145324694
Their binary representations are:
a=10001010011111000110101110110101
b=01000100010001000100010010010110
B denotes the 10 least reliable bits of A. So each bit that is set to 1 in B denotes an unreliable bit in A.
I would like to calculate all 1024 possible values created by toggling any of those 10 bits in A.
No guarantees that this is certifiably "the fastest", but this is what I'd do. First, sieve out the fixed bits:
uint32_t const reliable_mask = ~B;
uint32_t const reliable_value = A & reliable_mask;
Now I'd preprocess an array of 1024 possible values of the unreliable bits:
uint32_t const unreliables[1024] = /* ... */
And finally I'd just OR all those together:
for (size_t i = 0; i != 1024; ++i)
{
uint32_t const val = reliable_value | unreliables[i];
}
To get the unreliable bits, you could just loop over [0, 1024) (maybe even inside the existing loop) and "spread" the bits out to the requisite positions.
You can iterate through the 1024 different settings of the bits in b like so:
unsigned long b = 1145324694;
unsigned long c;
c = 0;
do {
printf("%#.8lx\n", c & b);
c = (c | ~b) + 1;
} while (c);
To use these to modify a you can just use XOR:
unsigned long a = 2323409845;
unsigned long b = 1145324694;
unsigned long c;
c = 0;
do {
printf("%#.8lx\n", a ^ (c & b));
c = (c | ~b) + 1;
} while (c);
This method has the advantages that you don't need to precalculate any tables, and you don't need to hardcode the 1024 - it will loop based entirely on the number of 1 bits in b.
It's also a relatively simple matter to parallelise this algorithm using integer vector instructions.
This follows essentially the technique used by Kerrek, but fleshes out the difficult parts:
int* getValues(int value, int unreliable_bits)
{
int unreliables[10];
int *values = malloc(1024 * sizeof(int));
int i = 0;
int mask;
The function definition and some variable declarations. Here, value is your A and unreliable_bits is your B.
value &= ~unreliable_bits;
Mask out the unreliable bits to ensure that ORing an integer containing some unreliable bits and value will yield what we want.
for(mask = 1;i < 10;mask <<= 1)
{
if(mask & unreliable_bits)
unreliables[i++] = mask;
}
Here, we get each unreliable bit into an individual int for use later.
for(i = 0;i < 1024;i++)
{
int some_unreliables = 0;
int j;
for(j = 0;j < 10;j++)
{
if(i & (1 << j))
some_unreliables |= unreliables[j];
}
values[i] = value | some_unreliables;
}
The meat of the function. The outer loop is over each of the outputs we want. Then, we use the lowest 10 bits of the loop variable i to determine whether to turn on each unreliable bit, using the fact that the integers 0 to 1023 go through all possibilities of the lowest 10 bits.
return values;
}
Finally, return the array we built. Here is a short main that can be used to test it with the values for A and B given in your question:
int main()
{
int *values = getValues(0x8A7C6BB5, 0x44444496);
int i;
for(i = 0;i < 1024;i++)
printf("%X\n", values[i]);
}

Efficient bitshifting an array of int?

To be on the same page, let's assume sizeof(int)=4 and sizeof(long)=8.
Given an array of integers, what would be an efficient method to logically bitshift the array to either the left or right?
I am contemplating an auxiliary variable such as a long, that will compute the bitshift for the first pair of elements (index 0 and 1) and set the first element (0). Continuing in this fashion the bitshift for elements (index 1 and 2) will be computer, and then index 1 will be set.
I think this is actually a fairly efficient method, but there are drawbacks. I cannot bitshift greater than 32 bits. I think using multiple auxiliary variables would work, but I'm envisioning recursion somewhere along the line.
There's no need to use a long as an intermediary. If you're shifting left, start with the highest order int, shifting right start at the lowest. Add in the carry from the adjacent element before you modify it.
void ShiftLeftByOne(int * arr, int len)
{
int i;
for (i = 0; i < len - 1; ++i)
{
arr[i] = (arr[i] << 1) | ((arr[i+1] >> 31) & 1);
}
arr[len-1] = arr[len-1] << 1;
}
This technique can be extended to do a shift of more than 1 bit. If you're doing more than 32 bits, you take the bit count mod 32 and shift by that, while moving the result further along in the array. For example, to shift left by 33 bits, the code will look nearly the same:
void ShiftLeftBy33(int * arr, int len)
{
int i;
for (i = 0; i < len - 2; ++i)
{
arr[i] = (arr[i+1] << 1) | ((arr[i+2] >> 31) & 1);
}
arr[len-2] = arr[len-1] << 1;
arr[len-1] = 0;
}
For anyone else, this is a more generic version of Mark Ransom's answer above for any number of bits and any type of array:
/* This function shifts an array of byte of size len by shft number of
bits to the left. Assumes array is big endian. */
#define ARR_TYPE uint8_t
void ShiftLeft(ARR_TYPE * arr_out, ARR_TYPE * arr_in, int arr_len, int shft)
{
const int int_n_bits = sizeof(ARR_TYPE) * 8;
int msb_shifts = shft % int_n_bits;
int lsb_shifts = int_n_bits - msb_shifts;
int byte_shft = shft / int_n_bits;
int last_byt = arr_len - byte_shft - 1;
for (int i = 0; i < arr_len; i++){
if (i <= last_byt){
int msb_idx = i + byte_shft;
arr_out[i] = arr_in[msb_idx] << msb_shifts;
if (i != last_byt)
arr_out[i] |= arr_in[msb_idx + 1] >> lsb_shifts;
}
else arr_out[i] = 0;
}
}
Take a look at BigInteger implementation in Java, which internally stores data as an array of bytes. Specifically you can check out the funcion leftShift(). Syntax is the same as in C, so it wouldn't be too difficult to write a pair of funciontions like those. Take into account too, that when it comes to bit shifting you can take advange of unsinged types in C. This means that in Java to safely shift data without messing around with sign you usually need bigger types to hold data (i.e. an int to shift a short, a long to shift an int, ...)

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