9.6. Bit String Functions and Operators
This section describes functions and operators for examining and manipulating bit strings, that is values of the types bit and bit varying. (While only type bit is mentioned in these tables, values of type bit varying can be used interchangeably.) Bit strings support the usual comparison operators shown in Table 9.1, as well as the operators shown in Table 9.14.
Table 9.14. Bit String Operators
Operator Description Example(s) |
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bit || bit → bit
Concatenation B'10001' || B'011' → 10001011
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bit & bit → bit
Bitwise AND (inputs must be of equal length) B'10001' & B'01101' → 00001
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bit | bit → bit
Bitwise OR (inputs must be of equal length) B'10001' | B'01101' → 11101
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bit # bit → bit
Bitwise exclusive OR (inputs must be of equal length) B'10001' # B'01101' → 11100
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~ bit → bit
Bitwise NOT ~ B'10001' → 01110
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bit << integer → bit
Bitwise shift left (string length is preserved) B'10001' << 3 → 01000
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bit >> integer → bit
Bitwise shift right (string length is preserved) B'10001' >> 2 → 00100
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Some of the functions available for binary strings are also available for bit strings, as shown in Table 9.15.
Table 9.15. Bit String Functions
Function Description Example(s) |
|---|
bit_length ( bit ) → integer Returns number of bits in the bit string. bit_length(B'10111') → 5
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length ( bit ) → integer Returns number of bits in the bit string. length(B'10111') → 5
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octet_length ( bit ) → integer Returns number of bytes in the bit string. octet_length(B'1011111011') → 2
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overlay ( bits bit PLACING newsubstring bit FROM start integer [ FOR count integer ] ) → bit Replaces the substring of bits that starts at the start'th bit and extends for count bits with newsubstring. If count is omitted, it defaults to the length of newsubstring. overlay(B'01010101010101010' placing B'11111' from 2 for 3) → 0111110101010101010
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position ( substring bit IN bits bit ) → integer Returns first starting index of the specified substring within bits, or zero if it's not present. position(B'010' in B'000001101011') → 8
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substring ( bits bit [ FROM start integer ] [ FOR count integer ] ) → bit Extracts the substring of bits starting at the start'th bit if that is specified, and stopping after count bits if that is specified. Provide at least one of start and count. substring(B'110010111111' from 3 for 2) → 00
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get_bit ( bits bit, n integer ) → integer Extracts n'th bit from bit string; the first (leftmost) bit is bit 0. get_bit(B'101010101010101010', 6) → 1
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set_bit ( bits bit, n integer, newvalue integer ) → bit Sets n'th bit in bit string to newvalue; the first (leftmost) bit is bit 0. set_bit(B'101010101010101010', 6, 0) → 101010001010101010
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In addition, it is possible to cast integral values to and from type bit. Casting an integer to bit(n) copies the rightmost n bits. Casting an integer to a bit string width wider than the integer itself will sign-extend on the left. Some examples:
44::bit(10) 0000101100
44::bit(3) 100
cast(-44 as bit(12)) 111111010100
'1110'::bit(4)::integer 14
Note that casting to just “bit” means casting to bit(1), and so will deliver only the least significant bit of the integer.
