In this question, Bill The Lizard asks how to display the binary representation of a float or double.
What I'd like to know is, given a binary string of the appropriate length, how could I perform the reverse operation (in C#)? In other words, how do I turn a binary string into a float or double?
As a side note, are there any bit strings which would not result in a valid float or double?
EDIT: By binary string I mean a string of 0s and 1s.
So, my input will be a string like this:
01010101010101010101010101010101
and my output should be a floating point number. (Or, if there were 64 bits in the string, a double.)
string bstr = "01010101010101010101010101010101";
long v = 0;
for (int i = bstr.Length - 1; i >= 0; i--) v = (v << 1) + (bstr[i] - '0');
double d = BitConverter.ToDouble(BitConverter.GetBytes(v), 0);
// d = 1.41466386031414E-314
double d1 = 1234.5678;
string ds = DoubleToBinaryString(d1);
double d2 = BinaryStringToDouble(ds);
float f1 = 654.321f;
string fs = SingleToBinaryString(f1);
float f2 = BinaryStringToSingle(fs);
// ...
public static string DoubleToBinaryString(double d)
{
return Convert.ToString(BitConverter.DoubleToInt64Bits(d), 2);
}
public static double BinaryStringToDouble(string s)
{
return BitConverter.Int64BitsToDouble(Convert.ToInt64(s, 2));
}
public static string SingleToBinaryString(float f)
{
byte[] b = BitConverter.GetBytes(f);
int i = BitConverter.ToInt32(b, 0);
return Convert.ToString(i, 2);
}
public static float BinaryStringToSingle(string s)
{
int i = Convert.ToInt32(s, 2);
byte[] b = BitConverter.GetBytes(i);
return BitConverter.ToSingle(b, 0);
}
The same as in Marc's answer, you need BitConverter
again:
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.bitconverter.todouble.aspx
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.bitconverter.tosingle.aspx
Here's a solution that doesn't use BitConverter and isn't limited by the range of Int64.
static double BinaryStringToDouble(string s)
{
if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
throw new ArgumentNullException("s");
double sign = 1;
int index = 1;
if(s[0] == '-')
sign = -1;
else if(s[0] != '+')
index = 0;
double d = 0;
for(int i = index; i < s.Length; i++)
{
char c = s[i];
d *= 2;
if(c == '1')
d += 1;
else if(c != '0')
throw new FormatException();
}
return sign * d;
}
This version supports binary strings that represent values between to Double.MinValue and Double.MaxValue, or 1023 significant binary digits. It overflows to Double.PositiveInfinity or Double.NegativeInfinity.
@LukeH's answer only supports binary strings that represent values between to Int64.MinValue and Int64.MaxValue, or 63 significant binary digits.
Why you'd have a need for a binary string that is more than 63 digits in length is up for discussion.
If you don't want to allow a leading sign character, you can use this simpler version that only returns positive values.
static double BinaryStringToDouble(string s)
{
if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
throw new ArgumentNullException("s");
double d = 0;
foreach(var c in s)
{
d *= 2;
if(c == '1')
d += 1;
else if(c != '0')
throw new FormatException();
}
return d;
}