extracting bits from big numbers

[ankitmcgill]

Hi all,

what i want to do it this

1. read a file containing big numbers as a list (one in each line). the numbers are big .. reaching upto 10 digits

2. read the file line by line -> get the number as a string

3. extract m lower order bits from the number

now i have done steps 1 and 2 but for the 3rd one im not sure how to go about it ... any help will be much appreciated.

regards,
ankit

[OrangeDog]

I assume you're storing them as longs. To get at lower bits you AND the number with a bit mask. For example

n & 0x0003

will return the lowest 2 bits of x (0x3 is 0011 in binary).

[VanGo]

First thing, I'm probably to new to be answering questions about Java but I'll try.

You said the number your working with is in string form.

Could you use string commands to get what you want.

Like

trim() // to trim off any leading spaces or trailing spaces
length() // to find the length of your string
substring( ) // then extract the end characters, actaully any part of the string you want

I've done this many times in other languages, just once in Java and I don't have an example handy.

[OrangeDog]

If the number is too big for a long, then parse it into a BigInteger. You can then use String.format with the "%x" conversion to get the hexadecimal string, which you can then use the String methods above to cut it down to a manageable size (decimal format won't line up with binary bit boundaries).

[rdtindsm]

There are perhaps some constricts on the problem solution that haven't been stated. Let me make comments on the obvious solutions using strings and using numerical methods.

If the value is a string, the suggestion has been to simply read the string and extract the last m digits using substring methods, or brew your own using numstr.length, numstr.charAt(ndx), and other string methods to build the "last m" string. Avoids the need to use numerical classes and the conversion manipulations that would require. Quick and simple. Only problem arises if you have to handle the last 5 digits of 10 places behind the decimal. Not part of the problem statement.

You shouldn't have to use masks or hexadecimal notation. OrangeDog has pointed out that binary notation (power of 2) doesn't align to base 10. There are bit shifting algorithms to convert binary to bcd, but suspect that is outside the scope of what you want, need, or would be expected to do.

If you have to use numerical methods, Input scanning/format methods should read a long. Then use mod; eg. num = dd1 *10^n + dd2*10^(n-1) + ... + ddx*10^m + ... should be enough of a hint. I'm guessing you don't need BigInteger, but that also has a mod method.

[ankitmcgill]

thank you to everyone who replied.

I ended up converting the string to BigInteger using the bigInteger constructor and then using the & operator to get the bits i wanted.

-ankit

[OrangeDog]

To other repliers: read the question. The OP wanted to extract bits, not digits.

The canonical method is bit masks for lower-order and bit shifts for higher-order. This also happens to be the simplest in terms of both Java and machine code as well as the fastest method.