Is there a printf converter to print in binary format?

Question

I can print with printf as a hex or octal number. Is there a format tag to print as binary, or arbitrary base?

I am running gcc.

printf(\"%d %x %o         


        

Answer 1

I liked the code by paniq, the static buffer is a good idea. However it fails if you want multiple binary formats in a single printf() because it always returns the same pointer and overwrites the array.

Here's a C style drop-in that rotates pointer on a split buffer.

char *
format_binary(unsigned int x)
{
    #define MAXLEN 8 // width of output format
    #define MAXCNT 4 // count per printf statement
    static char fmtbuf[(MAXLEN+1)*MAXCNT];
    static int count = 0;
    char *b;
    count = count % MAXCNT + 1;
    b = &fmtbuf[(MAXLEN+1)*count];
    b[MAXLEN] = '\0';
    for (int z = 0; z < MAXLEN; z++) { b[MAXLEN-1-z] = ((x>>z) & 0x1) ? '1' : '0'; }
    return b;
}