Convert character to binary code

[Tim]

I'm writing a program that inputs a character and outputs it's binary representation.
The part of the code that does the work is this:

(character & 0x80 ? "1" : "0");
(character & 0x40 ? "1" : "0");
(character & 0x20 ? "1" : "0");
(character & 0x10 ? "1" : "0");
(character & 0x08 ? "1" : "0");
(character & 0x04 ? "1" : "0");
(character & 0x02 ? "1" : "0");
(character & 0x01 ? "1" : "0");

I know the conditional operator is being used here. If the test condition
evaluates to true the program will print a 1, if not the program will print
a 0. What I don't understand is the 0x80 and all the other hex numbers. How
is this mask working? If someone could explain in simple terms I'd appreciate
it.

Tim

[jonnin]

its hex for positions. binary is from 2^0 to 2^7 in a byte. thats

1 position one ...
2
4
8
16
32
64
128

add all these for a max of 255.


thats what these numbers in hex are.
10 is 16
20 is 32
40 is 64
80 is 128. the rest are the same as decimal ...

anyway, its looking at a single bit of the 8 bits in a byte (char) and if
they are one writes "1" else writes "0".



"Tim" <tkangas@uslink.net> wrote:
>
>I'm writing a program that inputs a character and outputs it's binary representation.
>The part of the code that does the work is this:
>
>(character & 0x80 ? "1" : "0");
>(character & 0x40 ? "1" : "0");
>(character & 0x20 ? "1" : "0");
>(character & 0x10 ? "1" : "0");
>(character & 0x08 ? "1" : "0");
>(character & 0x04 ? "1" : "0");
>(character & 0x02 ? "1" : "0");
>(character & 0x01 ? "1" : "0");
>
>I know the conditional operator is being used here. If the test condition
>evaluates to true the program will print a 1, if not the program will print
>a 0. What I don't understand is the 0x80 and all the other hex numbers.
How
>is this mask working? If someone could explain in simple terms I'd appreciate
>it.
>
>Tim
>
>
>
>
>