Need to convert txt file into binary file in C++

Question

I have a txt file with numbers like 541399.531 261032.266 16.660 (first line) 541400.288 261032.284 16.642 (2nd line)........hundred of points. i want to convert this file i

Answer 1

There is binmake an open source C++ tool allowing to convert text data to binary data. It currently manages several number representations and raw text (hexa, octal, floats..).

I think it is interesting to mention it here as the title deals with text to binary file in C++ what binmake can do.

It can be used as a standalone binary but also included in your C++ code.

Using as a standalone program

With stdin/stdout:

$ echo '32 decimal 32 %x61 61' | ./binmake | hexdump -C
00000000  32 20 61 3d                                       |2 a=|
00000004

With files:

$ ./binmake exemple.txt exemple.bin

(see below for a sample view)

Including in C++ code

There's some examples of use:

#include 
#include "BinStream.h"

using namespace std;
using namespace BS;

int main()
{
    BinStream bin;
    bin << "'hello world!'"
            << "00112233"
            << "big-endian"
            << "00112233";
    ofstream f("test.bin");
    bin >> f;
    return 0;
}

Or

#include 
#include "BinStream.h"

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    BS::BinStream bin;
    ifstream inf("example.txt");
    ofstream ouf("example.bin");
    bin << inf >> ouf;
    return 0;
}

Or

#include 
#include "BinStream.h"

using namespace std;
using namespace BS;

int main()
{
    BinStream bin;
    cin >> bin;
    cout << bin;
    return 0;
}

Example of input text file and the generated output

File exemple.txt:

# an exemple of file description of binary data to generate
# set endianess to big-endian
big-endian

# default number is hexadecimal
00112233

# man can explicit a number type: %b means binary number
%b0100110111100000

# change endianess to little-endian
little-endian

# if no explicit, use default
44556677

# bytes are not concerned by endianess
88 99 aa bb

# change default to decimal
decimal

# following number is now decimal
0123

# strings are delimited by " or '
"this is some raw string"

# explicit hexa number starts with %x
%xff

The generated binary output:

$ ./binmake exemple.txt | hexdump -C
00000000  00 11 22 33 4d e0 77 66  55 44 88 99 aa bb 7b 74  |.."3M.wfUD....{t|
00000010  68 69 73 20 69 73 20 73  6f 6d 65 20 72 61 77 20  |his is some raw |
00000020  73 74 72 69 6e 67 ff                              |string.|
00000027