javastringbinarybitbitset

How to convert BitSet to binary string effectively?


I am looking for an efficient way how to easily convert a BitSet to a binary string. Let us say that its usual length would be thousands of bits.

For example, lets have this:

BitSet bits = new BitSet(8);
bits.set(1);
bits.set(3);

And this is the desired result:

String result = toBinaryString(bits);
// expected: result = "00001010"

I have some ideas in general (streams, etc.), but there might be some obvious standard method I am just missing.


Solution

  • So this is the most efficient way I have tried so far:

    private static class FixedSizeBitSet extends BitSet {
        private final int nbits;
    
        public FixedSizeBitSet(final int nbits) {
            super(nbits);
            this.nbits = nbits;
        }
    
        @Override
        public String toString() {
            final StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder(nbits);
            IntStream.range(0, nbits).mapToObj(i -> get(i) ? '1' : '0').forEach(buffer::append);
            return buffer.toString();
        }
    }
    

    Or other way using more streams:

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return IntStream
                .range(0, nbits)
                .mapToObj(i -> get(i) ? '1' : '0')
                .collect(
                        () -> new StringBuilder(nbits),
                        (buffer, characterToAdd) -> buffer.append(characterToAdd),
                        StringBuilder::append
                )
                .toString();
    }