How to convert an integer to a string in any base?

Question

Python allows easy creation of an integer from a string of a given base via

int(str, base). 

I want to perform the inverse: creati

Answer 1

Great answers! I guess the answer to my question was "no" I was not missing some obvious solution. Here is the function I will use that condenses the good ideas expressed in the answers.

• allow caller-supplied mapping of characters (allows base64 encode)
• checks for negative and zero
• maps complex numbers into tuples of strings

def int2base(x,b,alphabet='0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'):
    'convert an integer to its string representation in a given base'
    if b<2 or b>len(alphabet):
        if b==64: # assume base64 rather than raise error
            alphabet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/"
        else:
            raise AssertionError("int2base base out of range")
    if isinstance(x,complex): # return a tuple
        return ( int2base(x.real,b,alphabet) , int2base(x.imag,b,alphabet) )
    if x<=0:
        if x==0:
            return alphabet[0]
        else:
            return  '-' + int2base(-x,b,alphabet)
    # else x is non-negative real
    rets=''
    while x>0:
        x,idx = divmod(x,b)
        rets = alphabet[idx] + rets
    return rets