How can I access a specific group of bits from a variable?

Question

I have a variable with \"x\" number of bits. How can I extract a specific group of bits and then work on them in C?

Answer 1

You can use bitfields in a union:

typedef union {
unsigned char value;
struct { unsigned b0:1,b1:1,b2:1,b3:1,b4:1,b5:1,b6:1,b7:1; } b;
struct { unsigned b0:2,b1:2,b2:2,b3:2; } b2;
struct { unsigned b0:4,b1:4; } b4;
} CharBits;


CharBits b={0},a={0};
printf("\n%d",b.value);
b.b.b0=1; printf("\n%d",b.value);
b.b.b1=1; printf("\n%d",b.value);
printf("\n%d",a.value);
a.b4.b1=15; printf("\n%d",a.value); /* <- set the highest 4-bit-group with one statement */